Marketime

Terrorist approach in the freedom struggle of India

2012-01-17T23:07:00.000+05:30

At the outset, it seems pertinent to note that freedom struggle of India was led by leaders having different perceptions of their own. Some leaders like Ranade, Gokhale had moderate approach. Aurobindo Ghosh, M.N. Roy, Bhagat Singh, Khudiram had ‘terrorist’ approach and some others like Lala Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal had extremist approach; Bal Gangadhar Tilak though initially had moderate mind but subsequently changed his mind to that of an extremist because he lost faith in British administration. ... He was an apostle of ‘humanist realism’. TILAK AND INDIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT : AN OVERVIEW - RITESH KUMAR, INDIAN JOURNAL OF RESEARCH(2012)6,43-46 ANVIKSHIKI 15 Nov. 2011

Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, has published Barindra Kumar Ghose’s book The Tale of My Exile : Twelve Years in the Andamans (introduced and edited by Dr. Sachidananda Mohanty of the Department of English, University of Hyderabad) in December 2011. Rare photographs of Barindra Kumar Ghose by overmanfoundation

19 January 2012 At 18:30 - C. D. Deshmukh Auditorium

Three influential advocates

2012-01-04T09:02:00.000+05:30

35 | January 3, 2012 11:18 am

citizen_q wrote:

There were three influential figures advocating for Indian independence from Britain at that time. Ghandi, who advocated a suicidal pacifism in the face of the Third Reich and more importantly for India, Imperial Japan. Subhas Chandra Bose, an Indian fascist who advocated alliance with the Axis powers against Britain, and Sri Aurobindo, who advocated Indians to fight on the British side against Japan and Germany in exchange for guarantee of independence after the war.

Sri Aurobindo is the pivotal need

2012-01-04T08:38:00.001+05:30

On India’s darkling plain
January 4, 2012 By Jagmohan

My own long experience of dealing with political as well as bureaucratic functionaries has reinforced my belief that as long as the Indian mind is not reformed, no administrative, economic or constitutional reforms would save the country from the ever-deepening quagmire of inefficiency, corruption and malpractices.

The experience of 65 years of Independence has shown that it is not possible to build a clean and honest system of governance on a diseased mindscape in the degraded milieu which such a mindscape gives rise to. Strong laws are necessary. Well-structured and effective institutions are a must. The personnel to implement the laws and run the institutions have to be knowledgeable and trained. The overall mechanism of deterrence has to be potent. But all these are of no avail if the fundamental issues pertaining to the mind and soul of India remain neglected and if the negative and nasty values are allowed to hover around.

History tells us that every turning point in the march of civilisation has been preceded by a fundamental change in the mindscape of the people as in the case of the European renaissance in the mid-15th century. It was such inner change that was most needed in the post-1947 India, and it was this very pivotal need that was neglected by the builders of our nation.

Along with the modern Constitution and five-year plans for economic development, the leadership should have been instrumental in the formulation and implementation of a national regeneration programme, by which the country should have been rid of all the detritus that had collected during the long period of decay and degeneration. At the same time the buried treasures of her life-elevating ideals should have been dug out — the ideals which the great reformers of Indian renaissance, such as Raja Ram Mohun Roy and Sri Aurobindo talked about. The leadership should have realised that without providing inner energy, institutions created by the Constitution could not develop the animation needed to keep them clean, creative and constructive.

The writer is a former governor of J&K and a former Union minister http://www.deccanchronicle.com/editorial/dc-comment/india’s-darkling-plain-652

Sri Aurobindo during 1890-1920

2012-01-03T11:12:00.001+05:30

Empire, the National, and the Postcolonial, 1890-1920: Resistance in Interaction
Elleke Boehmer

ABSTRACT
This book explores the political co-operations and textual connections which linked anti-colonial, nationalist, and modernist groups and individuals in the empire in the years 1890-1920. By developing the key motifs of lateral interaction and colonial interdiscursivity, this book builds a picture of the imperial world as an intricate network of surprising contacts and margin-to-margin interrelationships, and of modernism as a far more constellated cultural phenomenon than previously understood. Individual case studies consider Irish support for the Boers in 1899-1902, the path-breaking radical partnership of the Englishwoman Sister Nivedita and the Bengali extremist Aurobindo Ghose, Sol Plaatje's conflicted South African nationalism, and the cross-border, cosmopolitan involvements of W. B. Yeats, Rabindranath Tagore, and Leonard Woolf. Underlining Frantz Fanon's perception that ‘a colonized people is not alone’, the book significantly questions prevailing postcolonial paradigms of the self-defining nation, syncretism and mimicry, and dismantles still-dominant binary definitions of the colonial relationship.
http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/

Debt in culture

2011-11-24T14:41:00.001+05:30

The question of debt runs deeper than we might think. Michael Dutton writes that from the 1940s on, as the Chinese Communists began to capture cities, they conducted blood test. The objective was not medical but political: “the most urgent cases involved tracking down and eliminating those who owed the communists a ‘debt of blood’” (Dutton, 2004, 167.) The separation of populations based on blood would lead to the identification of friends and enemies of the regime. The ‘debt of blood’ became over time, a reverence for the Party: familial, patriarchal reverence was replaced by loyalty to Mao, something we see wonderfully in the song sung at Fengxia’s wedding, where they sing – “nothing compares to the Party’s benevolence/Chairman Mao is dearer than father and mother”. The traditional lineage record was reconfigured, Dutton argues, to narrate a story of liberation facilitated by Mao. It was, he claims, “a story that evoked a debt” which could only be repaid by loyalty and devotion to Mao and the Party (ibid. 171.) - witnessing mao: on zhang yimou’s “to live” - & where do all these highways go now that we are free by anirban on Nov 19, 2011 8:40 AM

David Graeber’s Debt The First Five Thousand Years is a brilliant and powerful book; and even, I would say, a crucial one. Graeber does several things. He shows how the notion of “debt” has been integral to any notion of an “economy.” He traces the history of debt, both as an economic concept and as a metaphor for other forms of social engagement, back to the Mesopotamian civilizations of thousands of years ago. He traces the changes in how debt is conceived, and how economic exchange is organized, in various Eurasian civilizations and societies since then. And he contrasts these relations of economy and debt to those that existed (and still exist to some extent) in non-state societies (the ones that anthropologists tend to study). He takes account of Braudel’s claim that markets have long existed outside of and apart from capitalism — but shows that such markets have only improved life for all, rather than enforcing vicious social stratification through the imposition and collection of debts, when they have been grounded in a cooperative ethos, rather than a harshly competitive one. And he shows that the existence of virtual currency and virtual debt is not just a recent phenomenon, but has deep historical roots — it is hard currency, rather than virtual accounting, that is the more recent (and shallower) innovation. - David Graeber on Debt - The Pinocchio Theory by Steven Shaviro on Nov 19, 2011 10:40 PM

Boita Bandana Utsav at Delhi Haat

2011-11-11T08:16:00.001+05:30

ODIA PUA - 9th Boita Bandana Utsav at Delhi Haat
http://www.odiapua.org/invite.jpg

Boita Bandana Utsav on 10th November 2011 at India Gate

2011-11-10T17:43:00.001+05:30

Bal Jagruti Association has been celebrating Boita Bandana Utsav in Delhi Since 2004
You would be happy to know that Bal Jagruti Association is celebrating Boita Bandana Utsav for 8th time in Delhi on 10th November 2011 at India Gate Boating Place... The sole purpose of this program is to throw lights on the rich cultural heritage of Odisha at National level.
Photoes Of Boita Bandana Utsav 2011 at India Gate http://boitabandana.com/about-us.html

Conflict between modern and postmodern

2011-10-18T12:10:00.001+05:30

Why I stand in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement
OCTOBER 17, 2011 BY JOE PEREZ http://joe-perez.com/blog/2011/10/why-i-stand-in-solidarity-with-the-occupy-wall-street-movement/

Thus, the Occupy Wall Street movement epitomizes the postmodern consciousness with its solidarity for the oppressed and marginalized, its internalized guilt over the West’s legacy of imperialism, and a rebellion against materialism and selfishness. That the movement begins with a ritualized expression of outrage rather than a well-articulated list of demands is understandable; long have postmodern politics been impotent in American political discourse, relegated to the periphery in a two-party system with an iron clad grip on power.
View from an integral window on politics
Distinct in its vision of politics, the integral worldview understands that postmodernity follows modernity as part of a deep and complex spiral of development. The evolutionary view it shares with thinkers such as Fichte and Hegel and spiritual thinkers such as Tielhard de Chardin and Sri Aurobindo, though in the 21st century the most serious integral thinkers have shed the baggage of simple metaphysics in favor of a view that is arguably both “post-metaphysical” and “post-postmodern.”
Integral recognizes that postmodern political economics emerges from modern economics and is basically an elite, higher level of political consciousness. Postmodern politics is more evolved, more capable of embodying a spirit of justice and compassion, and more capable of taking appropriately worldcentric perspectives on important global problems. Both integral and postmodern political philosophies sense deeply that the days of ethnocentric social organization and independent nation-states is inadequate for coping with the complexities of today’s world.

Tribalism and organized township

2011-09-10T14:15:00.001+05:30

Quotation of the Day… - Cafe Hayek
by Don Boudreaux on 10/09/2011 2:47 AM
… is from page 199 of Karl Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies; here he’s talking about Plato:

"He transfigured his hatred of individual initiative, and his wish to arrest all change, into a love of justice and temperance, of a heavenly state in which the crudity of money-grabbing is replaced by laws of generosity and friendship. This dream of unity and beauty and perfection, this aestheticism and holism and collectivism, is the product as well as the symptom of the lost group spirit of tribalism. It is the expression of, and an ardent appeal to, the sentiments of those who suffer from the strain of civilization."

http://kafila.org/2011/09/08/the-utopian-instinct-aflatoon-kiran-bedi-and-nandan-nilekani-taha-mehmood/

A comparison of Utopias as Nandan Nilekani, Kiran Bedi and Plato projects in their book - Guest post by TAHA MEHMOOD

Tihar: And the rise of Kiran Bedi as a Platonic benevolent dictator
When Kiran Bedi first entered Tihar as Inspector General Prisons, she felt like ‘entering an organized township.’[i] For all we know, she may have been referring to an imaginary city state like Plato’s Magnesia. Kiran Bedi, the retired Indian Police Service officer, is universally credited for reforming the largest prison complex in Asia Pacific region- The Tihar prison. In 1999 Kiran Bedi wrote a book, It’s always possible: one woman’s transformation of Tihar Prison, about her experience of managing the Tihar prison complex as Inspector General Prisons between 1993-1995. ...

Contemporary India, in Nilekani’s view, is suffering from a crisis. Where the states are forced into action by market pressure building up. This response led strategy has made ‘chaos the rule in our crumbling cities’[xxiii].

When Nilekani offers a sweeping history of railways in India, he does it through chaos. Nilekani carefully takes out 9 words from a book by Rajan Balachandran to explain how the British officers viewed the newly constructed fortified railway stations in India around 1870’s. In one sweeping sentence, Nilekani describes the railway stations as ‘protective Edens, against which,’ and then comes words form Rajan’s book, ‘the chaos of India beats, outrageous as a sea’[xxiv]. ...
Had Plato seen Chak De, I’d assume he would be amused not because of the narrative of aspiration or because of the redemption narrative but because he suggests citizens should practice war- not in time of war but during peace. And any city magistrate, who has any sense, must provide provisions in order to summon all the youth of the city for games and competitions. City Magistrates must distribute prizes and confer honor to victors and must blame those who lost. Sports for Plato was a tool to make the citizens remember the city-state and identify with it. ...

While reading Plato I often wonder why did he dream of an ideal space in a city setting. What is it about a city that is luring policy makers in India to make a case for urbanization? Why is urbanization the preferred goal of people like Nandan Nilkekani? Surely there is nothing modern about cities. Society in Plato’s time was highly urbanized. What is Thucydides’s account of the Peloponnesian war if not a tale of tens of cities fighting with each other over a fear that Athens could dominate over Hellenes.

Annihilating social fascism

2011-09-07T17:36:00.000+05:30

Makarand Paranjape argues that modernity (and even postmodernity) did not come to India as it did in its naturalised form in Britain. As opposed to Western modernity lies Indian dharma as conceptualised by Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo and Nehru, which may be investigated in the mysticism of "svaraj". - Beyond borders: A perspective of postmodernism on the issues of religion, ethnicity and identity. Theorising Religion in a Postmodern Context: Special Topic Issue of South Asian Review (Vol. 30, No. 1)
Ed. John Hawley. Pages 381.
Price not mentioned. Reviewed by Rumina Sethi

If the chant of Vande Mataram has the power to empower civil society, it also has the power to destabilise democratic institutions that gave life to the poorest of the poor and the lower castes, particularly India’s Muslims. The high moral ground on which the Hindu middle class stands is a breeding ground for social fascism. ...
Corruption is not just economic practice; it is also cultural practice. Social fascism does not want us to see that inter-linkage, though it knows that such linkage exists. - Kancha Ilaiah is director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad From: Deccan Chronicle September 7, 2011

2011-09-05T14:30:00.000+05:30

The Balance of Justice

The European Court of Justice is a curious and instructive institution. Europe, even while vaunting a monopoly of civilisation, cherishes and preens herself in some remarkable relics of barbarism. In mediaeval times, with the scientific thoroughness and efficiency which she shares with the Mongolian, she organised torture as the most reliable source of evidence and the ordeal of battle as the surest guide to judicial truth. Both ideas were characteristically European. A later age may seem to have got rid of these luminous methods, but it is not so in reality. In place of the rack the French have invented the investigating judge and the Americans some remarkable processes, which I think they call questioning (the old name for torture) in the first, second and up to the fifth degree if not to higher stages of excellence. The torture is sometimes of the mind not of the body; it is less intense, more lingering, but it leads to the same result in the end. When the tortured wretch, after protecting with lies for as long as may be his guilt or his innocence, escapes from his furious and pitiless persecutor by a true or false confession, preferring jail or the gallows to this prolongation of tense misery, the French call it delicately “entering into the way of avowals”. The Holy Office in Seville could not have invented a more Christian and gentlemanly euphemism. The American system, is in the fifth degree, I think, to keep the miserable accused fasting and sleepless and ply him with a ceaseless assault of torturing questions and suggestions until the brain reels, the body sinks, the heart is sick and hopeless and the man is ready to say anything his torturers believe or want to be the truth. It is a true Inquisition; the mediaeval name fits these modern refinements.
The English people have often been accused as a brutal or a stupid nation; but they have a rugged humanity when their interests are not touched and enjoy glimpses of a rough common sense. They have besides an honourable love of publicity and do not like, for themselves at least, secret police methods. They have rejected the investigating judge and torture in the fifth degree. But their courts resemble the European. Under a civilised disguise these Courts are really the mediaeval ordeal by battle; only in place of the swords and lances of military combatants we have the tongues and technicalities of lawyers and the mutually tilting imaginations of witnesses. The victory is to the skilfullest liar and the most plausible workman in falsehoods and insincerities. It is largely an elaborate pitch and toss, an exhilarating gamble, a very Monte Carlo of surprising chances. But there is skill in it, too; it satisfies the intellect as well as the sensations. One should rather call it a game of human Bridge which admirably combines luck and skill, or consider it as an intellectual gladiatorial show. In big cases the stake is worthy of the play and the excitement, a man’s property or his life. But woe to the beaten! In a criminal case, the tortures of the jail or the terrifying drop from the gallows are in prospect, and it is rather the hardihood of guilt than the trembling consciousness of innocence that shall best help him. Woe to him if he is innocent! As he stands there, — for to add to the pleasurableness of his condition, the physical ache of hours of standing is considerately added to the cruel strain on his emotions, — he looks eagerly not to the truth or falsehood of the evidence for or against him, but to the skill with which this or that counsel handles the web of skilfully mixed truth and lies and the impression he is making on the judge or the jury. A true witness breaking down under a confusing cross-examination or a false witness mended by a judicious reexamination may be of much better service to him than the Truth, which, our Scriptures tell us, shall prevail and not falsehood, — eventually perhaps and in the things of the truth, but not in the things of falsehood, not in a court of Justice, not in the witness box. There the last thing the innocent man against whom circumstances have turned, dare tell is the truth; it would either damn him completely by fatally helping the prosecution or it is so simple and innocent as to convince the infallible human reason of its pitiful falsity. The truth! Has not the Law expressly built up a hedge of technicalities to keep out the truth?
As one looks on, one begins to understand the passion of the Roman poet’s eulogy of the defence counsel, praesidium maestis reis, the bulwark of the sorrowful accused. For in this strange civilised gambling with human dice where it is so often impossible to be certain about guilt or innocence, one’s sympathies naturally go to the sufferer, the scapegoat of a callous society, who may be moving to a long period of torturing and unmerited slavery or an undeserved death on the gallows. But if one could eliminate this element of human pity, it would be a real intellectual pleasure to watch the queer barbarous battle, appraise the methods of the chief players, admire, in whatever climes, the elusiveness and fine casualness of Indian perjury or the robust manly cheery downrightness of Saxon cross-swearing. If the Courts convince us of our common humanity by making all men liars, they yet preserve a relishable unlikeness in likeness. And I think that even theology or metaphysics does not give such admirable chances for subtlety as the Law, nor even Asiatic Research or ethnology favour so much the growth of that admirable scientific faculty which deduces a whole animal out of some other animal’s bone. If the thing proved is generally wrong, it is always ingenious; and after all in all these five sciences, or are they not rather arts? — it is not the thing that is true but the thing that is desired which must be established. This is perhaps why the Europeans think the system civilised, but as a semi-civilised Oriental, one would prefer less room for subtlety and more for truth.
On the whole, if anyone were to complain that modern civilisation eliminates danger and excitement out of human life, we could well answer the morbid grumbler, “Come into our Courts and see!” Still, praise must be given where praise is due, and let the English system once more be lauded for not normally exposing the accused to the torture of savage pursuit by a prosecuting judge or the singular revival in modern dress of the ancient “question” by the American police. Where political or other passions are not roused and bribery does not enter, the poor muddled magistrate does his honest best, and where there is a system of trial by jury, the blunders, whims and passions of twelve men may decide your fate less insanely than the caprices of a Kazi, — though even that is hardly certain. At any rate, if the dice are apt to be loaded, it is, with the exceptions noted, not on one but on both sides of the gamble.
Sri Aurobindo

Full scope of free Market

2011-09-04T13:36:00.001+05:30

Free market ideology, as represented in the nuanced ideas of Adam Smith or F.A. Hayek, has not outlived its purposefulness. Indeed, rejecting this ideology would be not just intellectually tragic. Rejection would be practically tragic, threatening the welfare and well-being of billions of people throughout the world.What we do need to reject is “free market ideology” as caricatured by critics and corrupted by politics. Now more than any time in my professional lifetime actual free market economics needs to capture the imaginations of young scientists, political intellectuals, and the general public, so that we can reverse the economic catastrophe we are starring down due to fiscal irresponsibility and monetary mischief. The dire fiscal situation in Europe and the US is not a matter of mere opinion; we have simply reached the tipping point of sustainable public expenditures. In order to address the problem, we need to revisit fundamental questions concerning the proper scale and scope of government in a free society. Sound economic reasoning, not flights of theoretical fantasy, is what is required for this task.The past thirty years proved the validity of Adam Smith’s assertion, “The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition…is so powerful, that it is alone, and without any assistance, not only capable of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operations.” During “the age of Milton Friedman”, as Andrei Shleifer dubed it, key developments in economic freedom—deregulation in the US and UK, the collapse of communism in East and Central Europe, and the opening up of the economies of China and India—allowed individuals to surmount government meddling in the economy. From 1980 to 2005, there were marked, world-wide improvements in life expectancy, education, democracy, and living standards as integration into a world economy delivered billions of individuals from poverty, ignorance and squalor.September 11, 2001 changed that. “The war on terror” justified another great expansion of the scale and scope of government. Thus, like the Great Depression before it, the Great Recession was preceded not by a “do nothing” administration that supported free market policies, but by an activist administration that embraced the power of government intervention and greatly expanded the role of government throughout the economy and society at large.The great free market economic thinkers from Adam Smith to F. A. Hayek would understand why this change happened. They never argued that individuals were hyper-rational actors possessed with full and complete information, operating in perfectly competitive markets. They only argued that individuals will pursue, in the best way they can, those activities that are in their interest to pursue. These thinkers knew that individuals are individuals, fallible but capable human actors plagued by alluring hopes and haunting fears, not lightening calculators of pleasure and pain.Human fallibility may cause “failures,” inefficient markets, but this very fallibility also sets in motion the market process of discovery and adjustment.A setting of private property rights, free pricing, and accurate profit and loss accounting aligns incentives and communicates information so that individuals realize the mutual gains from trade with one another. Efficient markets are an outcome of a process of discovery, learning, and adjustment, not an assumption going into the analysis. That process, however, operates within political, legal, and social institutions. Those institutions can promulgate policies that block discovery, inhibit learning, and prevent adjustment, causing the market to operate poorly.So rather than free market ideology being obsolete, what is needed is a reinvigorated ideological vision of the free market economy: a society of free and responsible individuals who have the opportunity to prosper in a market economy based on profit and loss and to live in caring communities. Yes, caring communities. The Adam Smith that wrote The Wealth of Nations also wrote The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and the F. A. Hayek that wrote Individualism and Economic Order also wrote about the corruption of morals in The Fatal Conceit. Our challenge today is to embrace the full scope of free market ideology so as to understand the preconditions under which we can live better together in a world of peace, prosperity, and progress.About the AuthorPeter J. Boettke is University Professor of Economics at George Mason University, and the BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism at the Mercatus Center. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Economics for Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: On the Teaching, and Teachers, of Economics.

The Life Divine covers the Vedic Vedanta Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo

2011-08-21T18:59:00.000+05:30

Home > E-Library > Magazines > Sraddha > February 2010 > Contents

On the Mother Sri Aurobindo 7

On Herself Mother 10

The Divine Mother and the Triple Status of the Supermind Debashish Banerji 14

The Path of Nachiketa Alok Pandey 32

Sanskrit : A Journey from Mantra to Freedom Sampadananda Mishra 38

VedaVyasa’s Mahabharata in Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri Prema Nanda Kumar 47

On ‘The Life Divine’ Of Sri Aurobindo Sarnath Basu 62

The Nature of Faith In the Light of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga Psychology A S Dalal 70

Spiritual Knowledge Martha S G Orton 77

Karma In History: An Evolutionary Perspective M S Srinivasan 88

Indian Culture and Hinduism Kittu Reddy 105

Sri Aurobindo and Chandernagore Trija Ray 117

A New System of National Education: Agenda For Change Sachidananda Mohanty 137

The Theme of Urvashi in The Indian Renaissance: Madhusudan Datta, Rabindranath Tagore, Sri Aurobindo Ranajit Sarkar 142

The National Value of Art Pabitra Roy 159

‘‘Sadhak Nolinida—The Wayfarer of the Sunlit Path’’ Manoj Dasgupta 171

Jugal Kishore Mukherjee (1925-2009) R Ranganath 182

Editorial

13 January was the 120^th birth anniversary of Nolini Kanta Gupta, the manasputra of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, about whom Sri Aurobindo is reported to have commented once ‘If Nolini is not doing my yoga, then who is?’ We have here an article by Manoj Dasgupta giving a very humane sidelight into the life of sadhak Nolinida. The past couple of months also witnessed the passing away of two of the Mother’s most beloved children – Jugal Kishore Mukherjee and Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, universally loved as our dear ‘Dada’. We have no doubt that after living a full and active life at the service of the Mother, they have ultimately found a resting place at Her lotus feet.

On ‘The Life Divine’ Of Sri Aurobindo

Sarnath Basu

Ere we begin reflecting on Sri Aurobindo’s magnum opus ‘The Life Divine’, it may be necessary to refresh ourselves with some historical information about its publication. Sri Aurobindo suffered one year in jail as an under trial prisoner in Alipore Bomb case. He regularly studied the Gita, the Upanishads and practised yoga in the jail. He had divine vision well within the precincts of the prison-cell when he came to know that he was not to pursue politics. Indeed God ordained a special task in which he had to engage himself. Thereafter on being freed from the jail he went to Pondicherry in 1910 and intensely practised yoga. In the jail he had the vision of omnipresence of God (Vasudevah Sarvam) and his yoga sadhana at Pondicherry was indeed an uninterrupted chain of that realisation. The first historic meeting of The Mother and Paul Richard with Sri Aurobindo took place on March 29, 1914. The Mother had Sri Krishna’s vision in the person of Sri Aurobindo. Indeed Paul Richard in his very first meeting with Sri Aurobindo in 1910 was profoundly moved by observing his unfathomable knowledge in all aspects of the Eastern and Western literature, culture, religion, yoga etc. After his second meeting he placed before Sri Aurobindo the proposal to publish a monthly journal with a view to bringing about a synthesis of the Eastern and Western philosophy and culture. Sri Aurobindo agreed to his proposal that resulted in the publication of the first issue of the philosophical review with the name ‘ARYA’ on August 15, 1914.

The purpose and nature of publication of this journal were indicated by the editors (Sri Aurobindo Ghose - Paul & Mirra Richard) on the reverse side in the front page of the first issue, as follows: […]. But ‘The Life Divine’ was not based on the Upanishads alone. The mighty great tree i.e. the Vedas in its entirety is its main foundation. The ARYA came out every month till January 1921. Later the published articles were culled, enlarged, edited, and added with 12 (twelve) new chapters, the book was published entitled ‘The Life Divine’ in Volume I & Volume II in the year 1939 and 1940 respectively. Thereafter the book was also published as a single compendium comprising both the volumes. Every chapter of the book has its beginning enriched with passages, original Sanskrit texts rendered into English by Sri Aurobindo himself, from the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Purana and the Gita etc. We find that he has quoted as many as 43 (forty-three) passages from the Rig Veda alone, 6 (six) from the Atharva Veda, besides a large number of citations from major and minor Upanishads. There is hardly any scope of doubt about the uniqueness of Sri Aurobindo’s yoga-sadhana but we can fairly understand from the quoted passages as prelude to every chapter that his yoga-sadhana was not delinked from the rich tradition of the sadhana of the ancient Rishis. He compared the realisations he had attained through his yoga-sadhana with those stated in the Gita, the Upanishads, the Vedas and only after testifying, corroborating and validating each and every bit of such realisations, he provided an ‘intellectual’ [to put in his own words] interpretation in the book. Judging from this point of view ‘The Life Divine’, of course, is a book on the Vedanta philosophy; and we can take the liberty of naming it ‘Vedic Vedanta Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo’.

Jugal Kishore Mukherjee 1925 – 2009

R Ranganath

Jugal Kishore Mukherjee, one of the most eminent intellectual sadhaks of the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo, passed away on December 15, 2009 at the age of 84. […]

Jugalda was a prolific writer, having written many books in English and Bengali. He was a contributor to many journals connected with Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy. In his book, “The destiny of the Body” (1975), he discusses the transformation of the human body into a divine supramental body from a scientific and biological angle. With his vast knowledge of science, he points out many interesting facts about longevity in the animal world. In 1989, he wrote “Sri Aurobindo’s Poetry and Sanskrit Rhetoric”. In 1990, flowed another book from his pen: “From Man Human to Man Divine”. Then in 1995, came a book on Sri Aurobindo’s Humour “Sri Aurobindo The Smiling Master”. In 1994 he produced a small booklet entitled “The wonder that is Amal Kiran” in commemoration of the ninetieth birthday of K.D. Sethna, another very eminent Aurobindonian scholar, author and literary critic. In his book, “The Practice of the Integral Yoga”, Jugalda gives practical hints to be applied in day to day life-situations, keeping in mind the principles of the Integral Yoga. “The Mystery of Death, Fate, Karma and Rebirth” was published in 2004 and it seemed that this subject was already holding his attention in the last phase of his life.

Then came some booklets: “Sri Aurobindo Ashram: Its role, responsibility and Future Destiny”; “The Ascent of Sight in Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri”; “Principles and goals of Integral Education”. There were two Bengali books as well: “Poorna Yoger Sadhan Paddhati—in two volumes and “Mrityu Rahasya”. [The ascent of sight in Sri Aurobindo's Savitri, The Destiny Of The Body/The Vision and the Realisation in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga, The Wonder That is K.D. Sethna Alias Amal Kiran, From Man Human to Man Divine: Sri Aurobindo's Vision of the Evolutionary Destiny of Man, Sri Aurobindo: The Smiling Master, Sri Aurobindo Ashram - Its Role, Responsibility and Future Destiny: An Insider's Personal View]

Lessons for Anna Hazare from J.P. Movement

2011-08-17T17:43:00.000+05:30

The Hindu : Looking back at the Emergency HARISH KHARE Sunday, Sep 21, 2003 Magazine IN THE PAST

In Bipan Chandra's perspective, J.P. had stumbled upon a misguided mission. J.P.'s agenda was "mere truism"; he was a prisoner at times of "woolly thinking" and at other times of "hazy, naive, and unrealistic thinking". The "total revolution", a concept that J.P. preached, was "at best a romantic notion or a matter of mere rhetoric", " vague and indicative only of good intentions"; J.P.'s economic ideas were "utopian", characterised by " a lack of coherent and concrete programme". In other words, a harbinger of anarchy and disorder. Yet the historian does not feel provoked enough to indict him for failing to understand what forces the destructive potential of mobs and crowds. The only flaw that invites Bipan Chandra's disapproval is J.P.'s gullibility in letting the Rashtriya Swayamsevek Sangh (RSS) take over the "movement". Once the RSS is located as the prime mischief-maker, then Mrs G's temptation for authoritarian sin becomes understandable, if not excusable. …

Even if J.P. had not blundered into uncorking a "movement", some other event or individual would have provided the spark for re-working the paradigm with or without a spell of anarchy, which no body could necessarily, hope to calibrate. It is here that Bipan Chandra's narrative offers useful lessons for political leaders and rulers: they must understand that their excessive partisanship would have consequences, which may not always be amenable to reasonable sorting.

If history has to indict, as it must, J.P. for embarking upon a path for which he was neither organisationally nor politically nor even intellectually equipped, then what was Indira Gandhi's excuse for resorting to an extreme solution?

In the Name of Democracy: J.P. Movement and the Emergency, Bipan Chandra, Penguin paperback, p. 384, Rs. 350. Tusar N. Mohapatra - 5:22 PM

State vs Anna Posted By Jug Suraiya TOI 16 August 2011, 10:49 PM IST

Is Anna Hazare a saviour of democracy or is he sabotaging it? This is the crucial question facing India days after it celebrated the 64th year of its independence from foreign rule. The Congress party and the government have attacked Anna Hazare and his...

Critics – and these include not just those in the Congress party or in the government, but also those who while sympathetic to Hazare’s professed ideals of cleansing corruption from our society have doubts about his methods – have pointed out the danger to democracy posed by what might be called ‘ad hoc vigilantism’. Today it is Anna with his campaign against corruption. Tomorrow it could be another rebel, with or without a cause. If constitutional institutions like Parliament are bypassed how long will it be before our much-touted democracy becomes a mobocracy, presided over by demagogues with self-assumed power?

Mystic thought of Kashmir & RSS thought process

2011-08-07T06:24:00.000+05:30

Experts on mysticism from Sri Aurobindo Centre for Advanced ...
SRINAGAR, AUGUST 6 – Prof. Ananda Reddy and Prof. Sebastian Painadaph from the Sri Aurobindo Centre for Advanced Research, Puducherry and Sameekshan Research Centre (Philosophy) MG University, Kottayam, Kerala, respectively, called on N. N. Vohra, Governor, at Raj Bhavan here this evening. Prof. G. M. Khawaja, Professor Research, Institute of Kashmir Studies (IKS), University of Kashmir, was accompanying the two scholars. Prof. Reddy, an expert on Vedic traditions and spirituality, and Prof. Sebastian, expert on Christian mysticism, are currently on a visit to the Institute of Kashmir Studies to deliver lectures at the ongoing 13-day Workshop being organized by the IKS on “Mystic Thought of Kashmir”, from 1st to 13th August. Forty persons from all over the Kashmir Valley are participating in this Workshop.The Governor, who is the Chancellor of the University and Chairman of the IKS, had wide ranging discussions with Prof. Reddy and Prof. Sebastian which focused essentially on the identification of all possible approaches for creating deeper understanding of various religious beliefs and traditions, to foster a truly multi-cultural environment. Prof. Khawaja briefed the Governor about the ongoing deliberations at the Workshop and the topics being discussed and the lectures delivered by the experts in this event.

[On the significance of the relics by Alok Pandey

A talk given on the occasion of the installation of Sri Aurobindo’s relics at Sri Aurobindo Sadhana Peetham in Lodi, CA, on 19 April 2008

These relics too are not just some parts of Sri Aurobindo’s body. They are surely not meant just to perpetuate a tradition, to keep alive through a tradition some form of the past, or some remembrance of Sri Aurobindo. The Mother who broke free from all traditions, who gave this beautiful prayer to the children of the school—“Make of us the hero-warriors we aspire to become; May we fight successfully the great battle of the future that seeks to be born against the past that seeks to endure. May we be ready for the new things that are waiting to manifest”—She would not send the relics just to perpetuate an old tradition. She started the institution of relics, if we may use the word institution. Not only did She send the relics, she took great, great care. It was as if Sri Aurobindo himself was going. So She did not start the journey of the relics just to keep alive a tradition. In fact, there were places were relics were sent for which she would say that Sri Aurobindo must receive a State honor. And even now in Orissa and in some places in India, when relics come, there is a State honor which is given. …

It is not just portions of his body, it is a portion of the Divine embodiment. It is the physical atmosphere of Sri Aurobindo coming to us. To those of us who have been privileged to feel that physical atmosphere in the vicinity of the Ashram, and how it envelopes all creatures there. It is his physical atmosphere, something of himself which comes here.

City gets aurobindo ashram Times of India Aug 1, 2011, 02.16PM IST
Governor J B Patnaik inaugurated the Aurobindo Bhavan at Panjabari in the city on Sunday. Sri Aurobindo Society is an international society striving for a new world order based on spirituality. It would soon start joint programmes with teachers from school to university-level in Assam to transform the education system in the state. International secretary of the society, Gopal Bhattacharjee said all aspects of life have to be raised to the highest possible level and transformed into a new consciousness guided by the divine consciousness. The society gives utmost importance to integral education, which has a wider scope for an individual to learn every moment through formal and informal education, based on the ideals of Sri Aurobiundo and The Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Bhattachrjee said.

He said that the society aims to raise divine counsciousness among the people and help in leading a better and fuller life leaving past the difficulty and prolems.

He said that the Sri Aurobindo Bhawan at Panjabari will become the centre of integral education and spiritual activities. The society has two branches in Assam- Digboi and Guwahati at present. It also has centres at Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Dhekiajuli, Hojai, Mangaldoi, Silchar and Karimganj.

Chatterjee informed that the education cell of the society is giving suggestions to the Centre for taking steps in spirituality development and would work for transformation of the education scenario in Assam.

Sri Aurobindo. The Rishi from Baroda - pinakipandit's blog 30 Oct 2010

The next topic deals with the RSS thought process, and how in a very congress way the foundation of it was destroyed pushing it to extreme right. Many say that the RSS thought process strengthened with Mahatma Gandhi, but much influence can be seen coming from Sri Aurobindo’s works in Baroda.

Before division of India on linguistic ground the Marathi community was a loved people through much of India, they had a cementing effect for many things they symbolized, the social engineering symbolized by Chatrapati Shivaji in the south and later Chatrapati Shahu in the north, was symbolic of a progressive mindset, they symbolized the union of the north and the south, they symbolized a bridge between the Shaives and Vaishnavs. And most of all, they represented three hundred years of war against the Moguls (not Muslims because both Rajputs and Marathas fought for and against Moguls, and they had political differences India never had religious wars), two hundred years of struggle against the British. The three Anglo Maratha wars first one lost them Bihar, second Surat and third broke the Maratha Federation with the fall of Pune. It is not surprising then that in much of north India the Maratha states played a central role in the make and break of the struggle of 1857. The fall of the Scindias and later the Holkers in 1857 had such a psychological effect that the revolt could not hold.

So the point is that the society looked at Marathi people with a lot of hope, and when Sri Aurobindo started sharing his opinion in Baroda, Madhya bharat and Bengal, it had a telling effect on the youth of that time and much of that lot was Marathi youth because of the proximity of the community in serving banks and education related activity, and the undercurrent spared like wild fire. Sri Aurobindo had met Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and it seems that had much to do with the rebel within congress and his change of opinion about religion (the man who opposed the child Marriage bill on religious ground to a man who challenged even the Sunkaracharya).

But the biggest strength of the RSS thought process was also its biggest weakness, it mostly grew along the borders of the Maratha states, the so called Hindi belt, and it also carried a certain image. This was the biggest strength of the congress, great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Mohmad ali Jinha, and others carried the possibility of a new India, and that was most appealing to the length and the breadth of the nation. And I think the promise was a very real one, and all that it held was achievable, if the democracy was respected.

The point that the above makes is that after the independence when congress came to power the Congress stated seeing the Hindi belt as a serious vote bank, and the best way to defeat any serious competition was to break it at its base. With the separation of Maharashtra the Marathi people were regionalized and so to say ‘the RSS was shown its place’. It seems this is the reason why an organization that was perceived to be slightly rightist became extreme rightist. And I guess they lost everything with it, they were merely reduced to an opposition party than any Ideology.

But more than the loss of the RSS it was the nation that lost the most, the nation was divided on linguistic ground, something even the British Administration that is accused of the divide and rule policies did not feel proper, and it is commendable of the British Administration, we accuse them of partition but they could have done much more had they so intended. Something that the free India is aspiring for.

By changing the constitution for its cheep vote bank politics I don’t understand what the Congress have proven. They destroyed the very bases that gave India its character, its culture and they say they did it to protect India’s culture, how very sad.

So much so that today India is seen as an alien power, an occupying force, a Delhi Raj by many. I hope both the thought processes the congress and the RSS will realize there doing and do away with this sad amendment to the constitution, and let the genius of the wise man Dr. B. R. Ambedkar actually see the light of the day. And most of all refrain from flippant changes to the constitution as if it is some toy.

Today the BSP claims to be the true representative of Dr. BR Ambedhker his federalism his thought for equality and justice, but I guess they do not believe what they stand for, as they say STRONG ENOUGH, to bring about a perceivable change. The congress suggests that both the left and the right are not serious political parties and relates them to extreme groups. And it is quite possible it be true, but if they come clear. It is important to realize the significance of a reasonable Opposition.

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Sri Aurobindo - Norman Dowsett 5-12-1950 Arushi is an E-zine from www.searchforlight.org

In the delicate purples and mauves of the evening sky
A sunset sadness lingers in the glow
And whispers to the heart: the Day must die,
Its light upon some alien shore to flow.

Sri Aurobindo and Roy both supported the Cripp’s offer

2011-08-05T16:16:00.000+05:30

The Radical Humanist - ARTICLE A book backed by massive research and massive scholarship Sri Aurobindo: A contemporary Reader: Book Review by R.M. Pal [Sri Aurobindo: A contemporary Reader, edited by Professor Sachchindananda Mohanty Price Rs. 325/-]

This is a book for Sri Aurobindo admirers, especially for those who have no time to read or do not have access to the complete works of Sri Aurobindo. My late friend Shri Girilal Jain, the illustrious editor of The Times of India, was a great admirer of two great Bengali revolutionaries, Aurobindo Ghosh and M.N. Roy. I once asked him what was there in Aurobindo who was at one time dismissed by Gandhi for giving his opinion on the Cripp’s plan for India’s Independence.

I have learnt a lot, Girilal said, from Aurobindo’s foundations about Indian culture, a free and united India, India’s mission and destiny, Indian nationalism. All important Indians like Bipinchandra Pal, Subhash Chandra Bose & Rabindranath Tagore saluted Aurobindo. Only Gandhi refused to recognize in him the great revolutionary and the great intellectual.

It is in this background that I wanted to read the writings of Sri Aurobindo, who was at one time our hero. Apart from the general introduction by Prof. Mohanty, which is scholarly, I quote below the editorial note (editor’s prologue from the chapter ‘Foundation of Indian Culture’) which contextualizes Sri Aurobindo’s thoughts concerning Indian culture. (143) […]

As I have mentioned above Sri Aurobindo’s appeal to congress leaders to support British war efforts in that connection he sai a special messenger Advocate Duraiswamy of Madras to Gandhi to speak on behalf of Sri Aurobindo to support British was efforts in order to defeat the enemy of human culture & human civilization Hitler & the Axis Powers. Gandhi summarily dismissed Aurobindo’s plea who is Aurobindo he has left politics. It is most regrettable that Gandhi did not know even though Sri Aurobindo was not an active revolutionary now & choose to lead a spiritual life he did not cease to take interest in India’s affairs. The book under review refers to a number of instances when Sri Aurobindo gave his opinion on affairs relating to India.

NOTE: At the Outbreak of the World War II in 1939 Roy took a strong stand in favour of full Indian support to British War effort. Based on his position on two arguments 1) that Fascism was the greater evil and all forces should be rallied against it and that the British would emerged so exhausted after the War that it would have to grant independence to India. Roy was convinced that the end of the war would be quickly followed by Independence for India. Shri Aurobindo also had the more or less same view with regards to Fascism. Sri Aurobindo and Roy both supported that Cripp’s offer and yet what is surprising is that Sri Aurobindo and Roy did not knew one another’s views. Sri Aurobindo had known to early Roy (Narendra Bhattacharyaji) of the revolutionary days in Bengal. There was at least one revolutionary, Amarendranath, who is a devotee of both Ray and Aurobindo We know from Prof. Mohanty’s book that Sri Aurobindo congratulated Amarendranath on his work on the anti-fascist front. Amarendranath was an active member of the RDP & naturally in 1942 was engaged in anti-fascist activity as per RDP resolution.

If M N Roy knew that Sri Aurobindo was none other than Aurobindo Ghosh who sends a special emissary Mr. Duraiswamy to Gandhi recommending acceptance of Cripp’s offer and Gandhi’s summary dismissal of emissary saying that Aurobindo is no more in politics. Why should he take interest in political affairs? Roy would have defiantly informed leaders of the congress like Nehru, Patel and others that Aurobindo’s opinion should not be dismissed. So emissary things might have different in 1942. One hopes Prof. Mohanty will one day do some research on this aspect to find out why this two leaders did not know one another’s views on the question of support to British War efforts and their almost identical views on the dangerous posted by fascism.

The abiding appeal of this controversial book lies in its empirical depth

2011-08-03T21:53:00.000+05:30

Letters to Editor telegraph Wednesday , August 3 , 2011

Free speech

Sir — In “Ban the ban” (July 30), Ramachandra Guha has taken the Gujarat government to task for slapping a ban on a book on Mahatma Gandhi by the American writer, Joseph Lelyveld. Significantly, the government of India is not a party to the ban. This is principally because of the instant intervention of the two scholarly descendants of the Mahatma — Rajmohan Gandhi and Gopalkrishna Gandhi — who put their objection to the ban in writing. The Manmohan Singh government then cleared the book for free circulation.

Guha mentions other instances of books being banned in India. Such episodes reveal the dictatorial streaks in India’s ruling class. Of the many cases, the ban on Peter Heehs’s The Lives of Sri Aurobindo deserves special mention. The abiding appeal of this controversial book lies in its empirical depth. Proscribing a book cannot be considered the right way to deal with controversial writers.

Incidentally, I beg to differ with Guha on one count. Guha mentions the Left Front government’s ban on a book written by Taslima Nasreen. Guha’s views are misplaced on this occasion. Bengal’s intelligentsia had defended Nasreen when fundamentalists had threatened her on an earlier occasion. Unfortunately, the Bangladeshi author seemed to have misused her freedom of expression later. Her book, Dwikhandita, was a shameless attack on the prophet. It was only then that scholars and intellectuals raised their voice in protest. But they had not pressed for her extradition. That came about as a result of an organized vandalism in Calcutta by some sections of the minority community. Therefore, the Left Front government cannot be indicted of having discriminated against her.

Guha, though, is absolutely within his rights to chastise Narendra Modi, who deserves to be punished for his disrespectful gesture. Yours faithfully, P.B. Saha, Calcutta

Sir — Ramachandra Guha rightly says that in India most books are banned because of the insecurity and weaknesses of the government. Banning a book only makes it more popular. Those who had paid scant attention earlier end up being eager readers of the controversial work. Many readers profess dogmatic views. They often lack complete knowledge of a subject. Hence they are easily provoked by anything that appears to contradict their own views. On many occasions, they denounce such contrary views as immoral or wrong.

But India being the largest democracy must allow freedom of expression. This is only because the stifling of free speech is alien to democratic principles. Yours faithfully, Maloy Pal, Calcutta

12:03 PM, 3:47 PM, 8:46 PM

Dharna against Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trustees in Puducherry

2011-08-02T23:05:00.001+05:30

from Prof Kamal Das profkamaldas@gmail.com bcc tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com

date 2 August 2011 22:15 subject Fwd: Fw: PHOTOS 4 attachments 10:23 PM

PHOTOS OF 2ND SUCCESSFUL DHARNA BY PONDICHERRY PUBLIC

AGAINST ASHRAM TRUSTEES

Complex economy and million mutinies

2011-07-29T13:41:00.000+05:30

On the complexity of society and social sciences – here’s my latest column in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. by Don Boudreaux. Reality is like that. It's complex. The economy is especially so. [...]

The zillions of decisions made daily by the billions of people in today's global economy simply cannot be predicted -- and the detailed consequences of these decisions cannot be predicted -- with the kind of precision that we take for granted in many of the natural sciences. So any economist worth his or her salary will qualify any prediction of the future -- and qualify any explanation of the past -- with the recognition that other predictions and explanations also have potential merit.

Economists cannot avoid the large amounts of uncertainty and imprecision that make economics unsatisfying to people, such as Truman, who demand simple and unambiguous answers. But because there's a large demand -- especially among politicians -- for simple and unambiguous answers, there's no shortage of people willing to supply such answers. Read more: Not so simple - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

A perfect firestorm Sunday July 24, 2011, Meghnad Desai, columnist indian express

Harold Macmillan, British Prime Minister, was asked what he feared most during his time in office. “Events, dear boy, Events,” was his answer. David Cameron, his ninth successor as PM, would agree. What has now hit Britain, a “firestorm” as he called it, did not even begin with Murdoch.

Middle class gets back its dignity from Gurcharan Das

Deirdre McCloskey’s new book, Bourgeois Dignity: Why economics can’t explain the modern world, reveals that the West rose after 1800 not only because of economic factors but also because the discourse about markets, enterprise, and innovation changed. People became enthusiastic and encouraging of entrepreneurs. The development of the West is explained not as much by colonialism and imperialism; not by Marx’s theory of classes; not by Max Weber and his Protestant ethic; not even by Douglass North and the central role of institutions. It has much more to do with how people’s perceptions and expectations changed.

Robert Lucas, the Nobel Prize winner, says that ‘for income growth to occur in a society, a large fraction of people must experience changes in the possible lives they imagine for themselves and their children…economic development requires a million mutinies’. There are still vast areas of horrible poverty and deprivation in India but there is also a critical mass of people who can see that their lot is palpably better than their parents; their future is open, not pre-determined, and can be changed by their own actions. They feel that dignity is being bestowed on their middle class dreams as their children are getting MBAs and aspire to become CEOs. Ordinary conversations over chai and chaat are about markets and innovation. Even leftist theorists at JNU and in the Congress Party have been forced to rethink their old prejudices. What has changed is ‘habits of the mind’ as India has become a ‘business respecting civilization’ in Schumpeter’s words.]

sbicitizen : Message: Re: [sbicitizen] Re: Why is there pain and ... - Ian Johnstone-Bryden

History is a mixture of perception and propaganda that confuses some of the fundamental elements of humanity.

As a pack animal, the human needs to associate with the pack. That may be the family group, the extended family, the religious faction, the political faction, the nation or the supra-nation. From that group, other groups are viewed, the perception of those other groups will not recognize all of the elements of those groups and it is almost guaranteed that the self-perception of any group will be different from the perception of that group by other groups.

Within a commercial organization, those negative instincts develop a new divided structure of sales, administration, production, research, etc. as workers in each discipline group together. People associate by their dress and behaviour in new packs. A corporation will prosper by encouraging all employees to consider the corporation as the framework of the pack, but this is still a competitive pack that sees other corporations as the enemy.

Against this natural pack instinct, humans have an ability to imagine and to develop an awareness that transcends brutal animal instincts. Individuals reaching a higher understanding can stand for their beliefs and bring about positive change but always risk the collection of similar understandings into a new religion that can be subverted by those who always seek to control others and to decide what is true and acceptable on behalf of millions of followers.

Any individual, within a group, will hold unique perceptions of all around and that perception will be contained by the society of the group. From time to time, the negative perceptions of the individual will break free from the constraints of society as it has just done so tragically in Norway. From time to time the positive perceptions of an individual will break free from the constraints of society and bring positive changes to that society and perhaps to a much wider group.

Change that is positive, rapid, and infectious

2011-07-20T16:34:00.000+05:30

Turn the gaze inwards Wed Jul 20 2011, Sanjeev Aga, columnist, indian express

So you will have the same set of people exhibiting one standard of civic behaviour in the streets of Kolkata, and quite the opposite in the Kolkata metro stations. You will find recruits from the same educational institutions happening to join two different organisations, but just five years later their ethical conduct will be as similar as chalk and cheese. Who would assert, for example, that at the level of the individual, the Scandinavian people display a different sense of right and wrong from Indians? Yet, only a die-hard will dispute that Scandinavian society is immeasurably more just than Indian society. These pointers lead to two general conclusions:

a) unit behaviour is not an algebraic sum of the quality of individuals who constitute the unit, and

b) individuals within a unit respond as they perceive the unit. If they perceive the unit to be fair, they will be fair. If they perceive the unit to be unfair, they will be unfair.

In this insight lies embedded our opportunity. Once the tipping point is crossed, small inputs at the level of a unit fetch disproportionate change. Change that is positive, rapid and infectious. The writer, former MD of Idea Cellular, is adviser to corporates and not-for-profit organisations express@expressindia.com

NGO offers forest trip to volunteers, Zahra Gabuji, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, July 20, 2011

The speaker at the workshop, Aviram Rozin, co-founder of Sadhana Forest, built on the outskirts of Auroville, spoke about his experience of turning 70 acres of severely eroded land into a tropical dry evergreen forest.

"I always wanted to practise sustainable living. But in an urban jungle like Mumbai, I didn't know how," said Ajrawal. "This project will give me a chance to experience a different aspect of life."

Rozin began his non-profit eco venture seven years ago. "Sadhana Forest is a volunteer- based community where people work together and practise simple and ecological living. They can share ideas, plan events, interact with people from neighbouring villages and plant trees," said Rozin. "We want to encourage an eco-friendly lifestyle." The talk included a discussion on how more people need to be part of the ecological movement.

A theory of government from Cafe Hayek

One theory is that government exists to correct externalities and provide public goods. The other is that government uses the language of helping people to justify giving stuff to the politically powerful out of the pockets of the rest of us.

Sleep as a state of consciousness in Advaita Vedānta - Page 136 books.google.com Arvind Sharma - 2004 - 181 pages - Preview

It might be appropriate to close this investigation with precisely such an example, drawn from the writings of Sri Aurobindo. “But I do not insist on everybody passing through my experience or following the Truth that is its consequence. ...”

Influential editors are now commonly lobbying pliant politicians

2011-07-20T14:17:00.000+05:30

‘It’s Yediyurappa, not BJP, in power in Karnataka’ from churumuri

The Bharatiya Janata Party increasingly resembles a franchisee operation like Nirula’s or McDonald’s. Its flag flies high in a number of States, but each of its regional satraps—be it Narendra Damodardas Modi in Gujarat, Shivraj Chauhan in Madhya Pradesh or Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh—scripts his own story.

‘India, not a rising power or an emerging power’ by churumuri - Ramachandra Guha in a piece titled “India is too corrupt to become a superpower”, in the Financial Times, London:

“Yet the truth is that India is in no position to become a superpower. It is not a rising power, nor even an emerging power. It is merely a fascinating, complex, and perhaps unique experiment in nationhood and democracy, whose leaders need still to attend to the fault lines within, rather than presume to take on the world without.”

Analysis: How to wipe out Islamic terror - Analysis - DNA Subramanian Swamy | Saturday, July 16, 2011

If half the Hindus voted together, rising above caste and language, a genuine Hindu party would have a two-thirds majority in Parliament and the assemblies. …

Any policy to combat terrorism must begin with requiring each and every Hindu becoming a virat Hindu. For this, one must have a Hindu mindset that recognises that there is vyaktigat charitra (personal character) and rashtriya charitra (national character). For example, Manmohan Singh has high personal character, but by being a rubber stamp of a semi-literate Sonia Gandhi and waffling on all national issues, he has proved that he has no rashtriya charitra.

Party politics is the most meritocratic profession of all in democracies. The partyless wonders Shekhar Gupta indian express: Saturday, May 02, 2009

Because the individuals entering into an assemblage are autonomous, assemblages constantly face the risk of falling apart or dissipating into thin air like so much mist. Anyone who’s formed groups and organizations is aware of just how precarious and fleeting these assemblages can be; or how much work these assemblages require to be maintained. Object-Oriented Philosophy: What is it Good For? from Larval Subjects

Dr. Subramanian Swamy & Rajiv Malhotra

2011-07-19T19:28:00.000+05:30

Comment posted by: Sandeep Re: 'Holy Spirit' is not the same as 'Shakti' or 'Kundalini' by Rajiv Malhotra

While Sri Aurobindo synthesizes and harmonizes differences by pointing out latent truths present in all traditions, Rajiv Malhotra seems inclined to foment divisions and instigate acrimony by micro-analyzing all the distortions which have occurred in the Christian tradition. In that sense, he is no different from his Christian adversaries who employ the same angle of attack when it comes to Hinduism. They are all stuck at the same level of consciousness. They complement each other! :-)

I found this passage by Sri Aurobindo on the Holy Spirit/Ghost. […] (Sri Aurobindo. Letters on Yoga, SABCL Vol 23, chapter on The Object of Integral Yoga, pp 510-512)

Subramanian Swamy courts trouble over hate article Hindustan Times - New Delhi, July 18, 2011

Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy has courted trouble over his "irresponsible, inflammatory and most condemnable" article that seeks to "whip up passions and destroy the country's social fabric". "At a time when communities need to bond together to fight terrorism, Dr Swamy is engaged in the reprehensible task of dividing the country. He should be immediately arrested under Section 153 A of the Indian Penal Code," said Dr Abraham Mathai, vice chairman of the Minorities Commission of Maharashtra.

Two days after Dr Swamy's article appeared in the DNA newspaper, 24-year-old law student Shehzad Poonawala sought to lodge an FIR in New Delhi on July 18 for his "hate-filled article that seeks to spread the ideology of lies, hatred and divisiveness". […]

Writing in the aftermath of the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, Dr Swamy spewed venom against the "Islamists", speculating that the Taliban takeover of Pakistan would become complete by 2012.

"Terrorist organisations would then focus on the unfinished chapter of Islamic conquests of India," Swamy wrote.

Calling for a "collective mindset of Hindus against the Islamic terrorists", the former Union minister propagated the theory of denying the right to vote to all Indians who (while being Muslims) do not acknowledge with pride that their ancestors were Hindus.

Communalism Watch: Politics of hate will never define India: Rakesh Sharma's response to Subramanian Swamy Rakesh Sharma DNA Sunday, July 17, 2011 7:27 IST

Till the time there is hate, till the time we tolerate hate-mongers, till the time we don´t reject politics of intolerance, we cannot possibly dream of peace. Politics of hate can only breed further hate; only someone insane would believe that a deepening cycle of hate will lead to peace, harmony or prosperity and strengthen the foundations of a robust democracy or a harmonious society. Let us not perpetrate hate. Let us condemn all the hate-mongers, of any community or creed. Let us demand that all the guilty in each of the attacks be brought to justice.

Colossal and stupid wastage of wealth

2011-07-10T10:15:00.000+05:30

From bijan ghosh solitude24@gmail.com to "Tusar N. Mohapatra" tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com date 9 July 2011 15:19 subject request - please make a BLOG of this write up

DEAD ASSETS

Bring Back Life to Dead Assets

Sri Padmanbhaswami Temple of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala is a sixteenth Century temple, established and maintained by erstwhile royal family of Travancore, (by a private trust at present) has six underground chambers (viz. A, B, C,D, E & F). Chamber E & F are opened daily; Chamber C & D are opened twice in a year; Chamber A & B were not opened for merely 150 years.

On a PIL by one T.P. Sunderarajan (ex-IPS) – a seven-member committee was appointed on March 2011 by Supreme Court, entrusted with the task to make an inventory of the treasures which started taking inventory since 27.06.11. After opening five chambers – it found assets worth about Rs. 1,00,000/- crores, out of which about Rs. 50,000 crores was found from Chamber ‘A’ alone. Chamber ‘ B’ is yet to be opened – which alone may deliver much more assets than what are found by now (04.07.2011).

Raja Marthanda Verma challenged in Supreme Court the Order of Kerala High Court, which upheld State’s decision of taking over management of Temple, stated Supreme Court that Temple was a public property and no member of royal family claims any ownership or right over huge property.

The source of wealth was the erstwhile rural of Travancore Princely State, reportedly transferred the wealth to the Chambers of temple to protect them from Britishers. The myth and cobra motif on main door – strongly dictating “not-to-open the door” – understandably are all for security of wealth in some strange or peculiar manner, but for no other reasons. Such method was resorted to by many others – and was a common practice of those days for protection of such assets. It is commonly believed that only to escape invaders, even many rich-family-wealth were dumped also in pond / well /deep-soil – which took place throughout the country – so that some day it may come into the use for the son of the soil – to whom it ultimately belong.

BASIC QUESTIONS : Now the basic question is

(1) whether nation should bring those dead assets back to life or in other words, to put life to those dead assets (i.e. by putting them in circulation /utilization)?

(2) And whether such assets, which are not in circulation for last 100 years, should be called dead assets?

SIMPLE ANSWER:

1. Assets which are not in use for more than 100 years, should and can obviously be defined as “dead assets”. In fact those which are not in circulation for more than 20 years, should be considered as dead assets.

2. If the dead assets are allowed to remain dead – i.e. not-to-put those into circulation – then this would be a colossal and stupid wastage of wealth and negation to resources vis-à-vis against the dictum of the nature.

3. The best utilization of this wealth, undisputedly which is a public wealth, would be to liquidate the same at the best available price, strictly in foreign market, preferably in Europe and USA, to earn exclusively foreign exchange, and to utilize the same for repayment of foreign debts. If dead assets are paid against foreign debts - there would a national utilization and the whole population would be equally benefited.

CONCLUSION:

Vivekananda proclaimed that who serves the humanity, serves the god. The wealth kept in god’s custody is not meant for the deity but for the living god i.e. the human population of the country. Let us be blessed.

Democracy's multiple sequences and consequences

2011-06-24T16:13:00.000+05:30

Time has come to correct mistakes by the State: Bishnu ... - The Hindu 14 Apr 2010

Oriya poet Bishnu N. Mohapatra on Tuesday observed that the time had come to think about the pattern of development being practised and ...

Bishnu N. Mohapatra: After completing his education at the University of Delhi and University of Oxford, Bishnu N. Mohapatra has been teaching at the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, since 1994. Currently he is looking after the Governance portfolio of the Ford Foundation’s South Asia office located at New Delhi. His research interest covers themes such as democracy, minority rights, identity politics, pluralism and social justice. His short essay ‘Understanding Indignities’ based on Dalit autobiographies has drawn accolades from scholars belonging to different social science disciplines. He is one of the editors of the volume on Social Capital and Democracy, published by Sage Publications in 2004. An admired poet in Oriya language, he is deeply sensitive to human suffering. Bishnu Mohapatra « A Fragile World

Introduction to a global conversation - BISHNU N. MOHAPATRA, 11 MAY 2011

There is no ‘finished product democracy’. How should democracy or self-rule be explained and evaluated today? It requires respect for the democracy of knowledge. Introducing a global conversation into the public domain

The Democracy Manifesto: Re-imagining Democracy in Our Time - BISHNU N. MOHAPATRA, 11 MAY 2011

What is The Democracy Manifesto? A global conversation involving academics, civil society and social movement activists from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America, has set out a credo for our fast-moving times, followed by responses from four of the participants as they continue their conversation in the public domain.

Introducing the Democracy Manifesto and a global conversation - BISHNU N. MOHAPATRA, 7 MAY 2011

There is no ‘finished product democracy’. How should democracy or self-rule be explained and evaluated today? It requires respect for the democracy of knowledge. A global conversation held at three international meetings, involving academics, civil society and social movement activists from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America, has issued in a Democracy Manifesto for our fast-moving times. We publish initial responses from participants each day this week to continue this conversation in the public domain.

The Democracy Manifesto: Re-imagining Democracy in Our Time [edited]

The self could be seen in terms of the individual citizen or in terms of a social community.
An idealized notion of western liberal democracy hegemonizes the democratic imagination. It is assumed that capitalism and modernity have an intrinsic relationship with democracy.
Reimagining democracy along these lines is one of the most pressing ethical and political tasks of our times.
Yet the western legacy is neither singular nor unambiguous. … The democratic aspiration spread to most of the world by way of anti-colonial struggles and the various movements for self-determination and self-rule in the last two centuries.
This artificial binary construct must come to an end. Democratic practices may exist in apparently non-democratic regimes. Established democratic states can embody a vast array of non-democratic practices. There is no "finished product democracy" and there never will be. The aspiration for democracy is open-ended. Each fresh step opens new horizons.
The dominant orthodoxy espouses teleology. Democracy is the ultimate and inevitable destination. This often leads to thinking in terms of stages or pre-conditions to the ‘transition’ to and ‘consolidation’ of democracy. Yet, there are multiple sequences and routes by which different political regimes come to be democratic.
This also enables us to think of democracy beyond the formal domain of politics. Practices within the domain of the family or the market, for example, need to be viewed in terms of the extent to which they enable or constrain self-rule. Democracy needs to be thought of as a way of life.
The quest for democracy must go wherever effective and binding decision-making occurs. Shifting sites of sovereignty require that we begin to think of inter-national relations as an arena of democratic contestation. The same could be extended to the level of continents or other groupings of nations. At the same time, the unit of analysis needs to be extended downwards, to regional and local units, for this is the level at which most citizens experience self-rule or its absence.
The demand that democracy all over the world must conform to a fixed definition first worked out in one part of the globe is inherently undemocratic. … If democracy is anchored in reason, dialogue is the custodian of reason.
Institutions are crucial to the formation and strengthening of democracies, but what institutions do depends on the context in which these are located. We need to shift the focus from the form of an institution to its real-life consequences in a given context.
The search for a richer democratic imagination requires that we look for practices, institutions, intellectual traditions and thinkers everywhere to help us reshape democratic theory.
The very notion of exporting democracy is inimical to the spirit of democracy. Democracy promotion can turn into democratic imperialism. Like all ideologies, democracy too can turn into a dogma.
The insistence on difference and divergence is designed to synthesize the multiple experiences of democracy. This is a necessary condition for reclaiming the global heritage of democracy and for reimagining a truly global future for it.

Without gossip there can be no democracy

2011-06-17T17:35:00.000+05:30

A nation with a guilty conscience Deccan Chronicle June 17, 2011 Home » Editorial » Op-ed By Shiv Visvanathan

Whenever I read the newspaper today or watch news, I see confusion. …Think of it. Baba Ramdev. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Anna Hazare. Suresh Kalmadi. K. Kanimozhi. Jairam Ramesh. Manmohan Singh. Rahul Gandhi. Sushma Swaraj. Don’t ignore the supplements; They provide their own little dramas about dress, the body, about morals. Add to this the Page 3 excitements, the scandals in a teacup that filmstars provide. Stir all this with the confidence of a cultural chef and enjoy what India brings you everyday.

The first thing you discover is that it is an exciting time and more fascinatingly we as a democracy are open about our mistakes, our scandals, our battles.

A free press tells you there are free people. Without gossip there can be no democracy. Gossip and rumour are double-edged. They play moral policemen; they also substitute for the conscience.

Think of it. Mamata Banerjee, Anna Hazare, Aruna Roy and Baba Ramdev are all soap operas around the ethical issues of our time. … Every issue of a newspaper becomes an ethical puzzle, a moral science quiz which recognises life has no easy answers. It asks us to respond to the tragedies of our time and to thank those who have kept issues alive. There is a lot that is frightening, even evil, and but you know it is there on the front page. You have to respond. Shiv Visvanathan is a social scientist

Heaps of cash, gold and diamonds found in Satya Sai Baba's personal chamber: Report Source: Dailybhaskar.com | Last Updated 17:27 (17/06/11)

Hyderabad: A massive amount of cash and precious stones were found from the personal chamber of Satya Sai Baba when it was unlocked on Thursday for the first time two-and-a-half months after his death, it is learnt.

The chamber was opened in the presence of members of the Satya Sai Central Trust in Puttaparthi on Thursday. No member from the media or the government was allowed in.

The trustees of Satya Sai Central Trust Justice PN Bhagwati, RJ Ratnakar, SV Giri, V Srinivasan and the Baba’s personal assistant, Satyajith all were present when the chamber was opened for the first time since Baba was hospitalised on March 28 this year.

The trustees who counted the treasure found in Baba’s chamber reportedly videographed huge heaps of cash, gold and diamonds that were stored in the room.

It is learnt that 15 students of the Satya Sai Educational Institute were appointed to count the valuables along with with bank personnel who came in with currency counting machines.

Trust member Mr Ratnakar said that details of the cash and ornaments would be disclosed to the public on Friday. The bank staff left in a hurry with the cash and valuables to deposit them in lockers.

Gandhi and Tagore are both external critiques of the west and internal critiques of the east

2011-06-15T19:34:00.000+05:30

New City, East Coast, Same Old Story by naturalorder@gmail.com (Sauvik)

I am now in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha - a very old civilisation. I am close to the Sun Temple of Konark and the beaches of Puri. But I don't see any tourists about. …

The scenery from the train window was wonderful throughout - starting with the splendour of the Western Ghats through the rocky landscape of the plateau right through to the quiet beauty of the Eastern Ghats. What a beautiful country we live in, I thought. And how much free space - abundant is the word to describe how much land we possess to live in. I saw so much unowned, uncultivated land - including all the mountains, each and every one. …

I noticed that all the cities and towns I passed through were uniformely ugly and overcrowded: Dharwar-Hubli, Bellary, and the coastal cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha I passed through in the morning, like Vizianagaram.

The Dream of the 'Political': Marx meets Freud along the Sabarmatiby Anup Dhar Time: 3 pm Venue: Room 7, AUD Kashmere Gate Campus

This presentation is about the idea of the 'political'. It is about what happens to the idea of the political when one introduces in its given history non-western thinkers, with their own, at times, non-conventional ideas of the political. To make sense of ‘what happens,’ this presentation shall set up an imagined trialogue between three ‘thinkers of the political’, Marx, Gandhi and Tagore. It shall thus put to dialogue a western philosopher of the political or a philosopher of the western imagination of the political, Marx (who is also an internal critique of the west) and two non-western philosophers of the political (who could also be philosophers of the non-western imagination of the political), Gandhi and Tagore, who are both external critiques of the west and internal critiques of the east.

The Marxian element of the western political paradigm is thus in conversation with the Gandhian-Tagorite element of the non-western political paradigm. The writings of Marx, Gandhi and Tagore on ‘critiques of capital’, which bleed into critiques of western modernism, and ‘socialist reconstruction’, and which further bleed into reconstructions of the socialist self, shall be deployed to set up the exchange. The spectre of a thinker who purportedly had nothing to do with the political, Freud, but had lots to do with the 'non-coercive reorganization of desire', shall haunt this exchange. The exchange shall take place along the 'Sabarmati' that turned crimson in 1948 and dried up in 2002.

Bad devotees; good clients

2011-06-09T15:17:00.000+05:30

Ramdev as the Bruce Lee of yoga Dipankar Gupta Mail Today: Jun 8, 2011‎

Hindus have problems gathering around a religious leader, as a religious leader. They quickly transform the person, saffron robes, notwithstanding, to a specialist healer, magician and personal good luck charm. Hindus, therefore, make bad devotees but good clients.

As tradition tells us, Hindus are not given to collective sentiments in their religious observances. The concept of a church or congregation is foreign to them. This is why one can be a pious Hindu yet never set foot in a temple. To be able to host an at-home with your own customised guru is the ultimate Hindu fantasy. This would not work for Muslims, Sikhs or Christians. The idea of a ‘communion’ is essential in these religions. Hence, when Hindus flock to a so-called sadhu it is not always on account of religion.

They are attracted to bearded individuals in saffron because of their supposed magical or physical powers. They are worried when such a person dies for they wonder who their next all-round talisman would be. Other religions do not think that way, primarily because the communion is so important for them. That also explains why no Christian priest, or Muslim maulvi or Sikh granthi would produce ashes, watches or sweets out of his sleeve, or hat, to win adherents.”

Monkeys, morals, mathematics Deccan Chronicle - Jayant V. Narlikar - ‎Jun 8, 2011‎

Indeed, as one drives deeper into the garden of mathematics, one discovers that logical arguments take the front seat and number crunching takes the backseat. This may help understand why in the world of expert mathematicians, a person with the mental ability of performing quick additions, multiplications etc., is not considered a mathematician. For the same reason, the so-called vedic mathematics is not an example of higher mathematics.

I, therefore, suggest that once a week the maths teacher should devote an entire period playing games and solving puzzles that have a mathematical base. This way the pupils will learn to appreciate the subject for what it really is and will cease to be afraid of it. Such entertaining byways to various aspects of mathematics do exist and are waiting to be enjoyed.

Freedom was won and our nation built by towering spiritual leaders

2011-06-04T13:07:00.000+05:30

Enter the Godmen Malavika Sangghvi, Business Standard - Mumbai June 04, 2011, 0:17 IST

Here’s a trick question, the answer to which lies at the end of this column. An Indian spiritual leader said the following words. Can you guess who?

“I say, of the Congress, then, this, — that its aims are mistaken, that the spirit in which it proceeds towards their accomplishment is not a spirit of sincerity and whole-heartedness, and that the methods it has chosen are not the right methods, and the leaders in whom it trusts, not the right sort of men to be leaders; — in brief, that we are at present the blind led, if not by the blind, at any rate by the one-eyed.”

Whereas a shallow look at the role men of the robe have played in Indian public life may indicate that they have by and large been concerned with inner growth and social empowerment, if we look beyond the last few decades we will see that our Freedom was won and our nation built by towering spiritual leaders.

Sri Aurobindo was a freedom fighter, a revolutionary and a political activist jailed for his political views even while he embarked on his great spiritual journey. Swami Vivekananda concerned himself with not only inner growth and personal evolution but influenced political thought. (Gandhi was known to say that his whole life was an effort to bring into actions the ideas of Vivekananda.)

Rabindranath Tagore was known as much for his spiritualism as his political views. And of course, the greatness of Gandhi lay in the fact that in him politics and spirituality were synthesised to such a great degree that where one began and the other ended was never clear.

In this context, what Baba Ramdev is attempting to do deserves serious examination. I hold no brief for Ramdev; his views on most subjects, especially homosexuality, militate severely against mine.

But this does not mean that I dismiss him or his role in the coming weeks. The Indian public has thronged to his side and the spin masters in the Congress have realised that the Indian public, unlike that of other nations, has a unique relationship and reverence for spiritual activists that’s built into its DNA.

That so far our Godmen have been busy achieving nirvana from the backseats of their Rolls-Royces or gathering international devotees through their ever-increasing bag of tricks has been fortunate for our politicians who’ve till now only had to contend with each other and the growing despair and disillusionment of their electorate.

Now with the political initiation of the maniacally-twitching Baba and the launch of his party, there’s a serious new challenge. No surprise then in its leaders’ dashes to airports and their softly-softly approach to the TV evangelist.

Men of the robe have played substantive roles in nation-building in the past and there’s no reason they can’t again. What’s more, the great elephant in the room, unspoken of in these hyper politically-correct times is the Hindu card.

Anna Hazare and his cohorts (even Swami Agnivesh) just didn’t represent the Hindu card the way Ramdev seems to do. And with a ruling party accused of practicing pseudo-secularism and appeasing its Muslim vote bank, along with the double jeopardy of its chairperson being a Roman Catholic by birth, is it any wonder that Hindu leaders like Ramdev are given the import they are?

And by the way, that critique of the Congress was by Sri Aurobindo. Malavika Sangghvi is a Mumbai-based writer

Sri Aurobindo's Writings - The Mother's Collected Works

Sri Aurobindo's Letters on Himself and the Ashram

2011-05-31T19:31:00.000+05:30

Sri Aurobindo's Writings - Volume 35 PDF last updated: 17 May 11

Letters on Himself and the Ashram

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 advice to the disciples living and working in it. Sri Aurobindo wrote these letters between 1927 and 1950 — most of them in the 1930s. [ON HIMSELF, COMPILED FROM NOTES AND LETTERS. Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, Popular Edition, Vol. 26.]

Rabindranath Tagore-Aurobindo meet's 83rd anniversary ... - The Hindu PUDUCHERRY, May 31, 2011

On May 29, 1928, the former French colony of Pondicherry had an important visitor in Rabindranath Tagore, who had made a halt near its shores to call on one of its most famous residents, philosopher and revolutionary Sri Aurobindo, whom he had last met in 1907 and had dedicated a poem in praise of his struggles.

The 83rd anniversary of that historic meeting, between two of the country's foremost intellectuals, was observed at the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) by the World Peace Trust here on Sunday.

Secretary of the trust Dibyendu Goswami said that though the poet was older to Sri Aurobindo, he offered his poem in 1907 as a “salutation” to the philosopher.

Though Sri Aurobindo had retired into complete “seclusion” by 1928 and had avoided meeting even his own disciples, he made exception when it was learnt that Tagore had halted near Puducherry, on his way to Europe, in order to meet him. While the meeting itself lasted only for a few hours, it ended with Tagore reciting the poem that he wrote in praise of Sri Aurobindo once again.

'PUDUCHERRY BLESSED'

Member of Legislative Assembly and former Minister K. Lakshminarayanan said that Puducherry was blessed by the fact that great men such as Sri Aurobindo and Subramanya Bharathi chose to live in the town and spread their message of love.

Though Tagore and Bharathi never met during their lifetimes, both of them understood each others' thoughts well and this was proved by the references that Bharathi has made of Tagore in many of his works, he said.

PHOTO EXHIBITION

A photo exhibition, displaying rare pictures of Tagore's visit to Puducherry, was also held as part of the celebrations.

Member of Legislative Assembly Lakshminarayanan having a look at photographs displayed at INTACH on the occasion of the 83rd anniversary of Tagore's visit to Pondicherry on Monday. Photo: T. Singaravelou

God is seen as providing divine sanction for the most horrendous violence

2011-05-30T20:32:00.000+05:30

Children of Abraham at War Talmiz Ahmad

Messianic belief has been central to the three Semitic religious traditions since their inception and it has remained a vibrant force throughout their history. While providing comfort in times of crises and calamities, Messianic movements also demonise the enemy, seeing him as Satan or Antichrist. In this conflict with evil, God is seen as providing divine sanction for the perpetration of the most horrendous violence against the "Other", which is identified as a collective enemy among whom "no-one is innocent."

Children of Abraham

Since 2004, Children of Abraham has been facilitating dialogue and connecting Muslim and Jewish young people from all over the world using a range of emerging online technologies. The program features guided thematic exploration of each other’s communities using Wiki, photography and discussion boards aimed at building mutual respect through understanding.

Core Values

Dialogue, Discovery, Respect

Mission

Host the first on-line community for the world’s Jewish and Muslim students to spend time together.

Restore a more comprehensive relationship between these two ancient peoples and honor our common heritage, reaffirming the essential principles that lie at the heart of our faiths.

Political Stance

We acknowledge and realize that relations between Muslims and Jews have a long and ancient tradition of respect and peaceful coexistence, as exemplified by what Jewish historians refer to as the Golden Age of Spain, from the tenth through twelfth centuries living under Islamic rule in al-Andalus.

Only in the recent past have relations been tainted with hatred, mistrust and misperceptions, in part, due to the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict. Some Muslims view the Israeli settlements and control of East Jerusalem and the West Bank as an unjust occupation of the Holy Land. Jews openly debate these issues too. Some oppose and some support the creation of a Palestinian state in the occupied territories. Our Abrahamic origins require us to be helpful in articulating the principles that support our work. Even when such a conflict continues to cause suffering for all involved, we believe that we can serve as role models for open dialogue among and between our two peoples.

Children of Abraham is neither a political pressure group nor a focus group for Palestine-Israel relations. We are a people-to-people organization whose mission is to work with youth. It is entirely consistent with our principles to express our support for the non-violent, peaceful and just resolution of this conflict (or any other). Since both Islam and Judaism espouse the sanctity of life and the peaceful resolution of conflict, we support negotiation and dialogue as the best way to end the conflict on peaceful and just terms for all people.

As an educational organization, we invite all kinds of people to participate in honest discussion and to discover who the "other" is.

We take the view that if we allow our youth to get to know each other as human beings rather than as enemies – they may learn from each other the differences and similarities between their religions, traditions and cultures. We aim to help build a generation of Jews and Muslims who have mutual respect for two great religions that share the same Abrahamic root. We are building the bridge where our children can walk together with dignity and respect. We must remember that we create our own realities by the choices we make in the moment. We serve as a platform for these two communities to interact with each other without fear.

History of armed struggle against the colonial rule

2011-05-29T12:50:00.000+05:30

Pranab releases book on freedom fighter Bagha Jatin - fullstory New Delhi, May 27 (PTI)

The study of biography of freedom fighter Jatindranath Mukherjee not only provides an insight into his life and times but a glimpse of India's struggle against colonial rule, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said today as he unveiled a book on the revolutionary leader.

'Bagha Jatin -- Life and Times of Jatindranath Mukherjee', written by the minister's grandson and Paris-based scholar Prithwindra Mukherjee, has been brought out by the National Book Trust, which is also coming out with biographies of Bengal revolutionaries Surjya Sen and Kalpana Dutta soon.

"The story of Bagha Jatin as it unfolded in this book is mesmerising. Not only it gives a glimpse of the life of the ardent revolutionary who challenged the mighty British rulers but also analyses the history of armed struggle against the colonial rule at that time," the minister said.

Pranab releases book on freedom fighter Bagha Jatin New Delhi: Friday, May 27, 2011

The study of biography of freedom fighter Jatindranath Mukherjee not only provides an insight into his life and times but a glimpse of

India

's struggle against colonial rule, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday as he unveiled a book on the revolutionary leader.

'Bagha Jatin -- Life and Times of Jatindranath Mukherjee', written by his grandson and Paris-based scholar Prithwindra Mukherjee, has been brought out by the National Book Trust, which is also coming out with biographies of Bengal revolutionaries Surjya Sen and Kalpana Dutta soon.

"One important aspect is that Bhagha Jatin fought bravely against the British but did not hate them," he said. He recalled how after the 1905 Bengal partition, many revolutionaries started favouring armed movement against the British and how after unification of Germany by Otto Bismarck, some of them tried to take its support to uproot the Raj. Mukherjee said the history of Congress is bringing out details of many groups active then, including overseas ones.

Jatindranath, the architect of 'Jugantar', a key secret revolutionary group in Bengal, tried to import arms from Germany during World War-I for an uprising but was killed in a gunfight with British troops in Orissa in 1915. Known for his valour, he earned the epithet of "Bagha (tiger) Jatin" in his youth after killing a tiger which attacked his friend. PTI

Savitri Era: Pre-Gandhian Indian revolutionary movement (1893-1918) 6 May 2009
Marketime: The most successful of the pre-Gandhian movements 24 Aug 2006

Objective History in Four Lessons by Prithwindra Mukherjee 26 Apr 2009

Prithwindra Mukherjee « The Mother's Lasso 12 Aug 2009
Auro-Ratna Awards 2011 « Overman Foundation 27 Mar 2011
Prithwindra Mukherjee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sri Aurobindo's Writings - The Mother's Collected Works

Sri Aurobindo was like a sun amongst the stars

2011-05-20T14:19:00.000+05:30

Key to the Vedas - Page 152 - M. I. Mikhailov, N. S. Mikhailov - Vinoba Bhave, his follower, and many other contemporary Hindus state that his words were indeed prophetic. Aurobindo Ghosh `The recovery of the perfect truth of the Veda is a practical necessity for the future of the human race. ...

Indian Political Tradition - Page 221 - Mohanty D.K - 2002 - Sri Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950) Sri Aurobindo Ghosh was the most formidable representative of Indian culture and civilisation. His philosophy synthesising mysticism and realism, materialism and spiritualism carved out a unique place for ...

Aurobindo Ghosh, revolutionary and reformer - Shiri Ram Bakshi - 1994 - He Led A Simple Life In Accordance With The Indian Traditions. The Work Would Be Useful For Teachers, Students And Research Scholars In India And Abroad.

Indian political thinkers: modern indian political thought - Page 135 - N. Jayapalan - 2000 - 11 Shri Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950) Life Sketch When the Indian politics demanded the personalities sprang up. Maharishi Aurobindo Ghosh was like a sun amongst the stars. He was such a person that he was high above the calibre of Swami ...

Mao Zedong and the Communist Policies 1927-1978 - Page 50 - B. E. Shinde - 1992 - CHAPTER VII AUROBINDO GHOSH AUROBINDO GHOSH in his ashrama which later became a regular teaching house of spiritual knowledge, opened out an absolutely new ground of scientific explanation of not only the Gita, but also other spiritual ...

A Comprehensive Study of Education - Page 260 - S. Samuel Ravi - Sri Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950) INTRODUCTION Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, occupies a very important position among the contemporary Indian philosophers of education due to his wide knowledge of East and West, ancient and modern system of ...

Sri Aurobindo Ghosh and Bal Gangadhar Tilak: the spirit of freedom - Suneera Kapoor - 1991 – Both Aurobindo and Tilak have made freedom as the central theme of their writings. Aurobindo regards freedom as the "wanfra"1 of his life. He says, "if to aspire to independence and preach freedom is a crime, you may cast me into jail ... Foundations of Tilak s Nationalism: Discrimination, Education and Hindutva Parimala V. Rao (Hardcover - Jun 1, 2010)

Indian revolutionaries: a comprehensive study, 1757-1961: Volume 1 - Śrīkr̥shṇa Sarala - 1999 - Aurobindo Ghosh A countless number of people crowded the High Court of Calcutta that day. ... Aurobindo Ghosh was standing in the enclosure for the accused. While arguing the case for him, Chittaranjan Das tore through the web of false ... Brahmabandhab Upadhyay: the Life and Thought of a Revolutionary.(Book Review): An article from: The Journal of the American Oriental Society Rachel Fell McDermott (Digital - Jan 1, 2003)

Educational Thinkers - Page 125 - V.R. Taneja, S. Taneja - 2006 - 8 AUROBINDO GHOSH (AUGUST 15, 1872 — AUGUST 15, 1947) In the galaxy of saints, seers, sages and prophets in India, Aurobindo outshines all because of his versatile genius sprawling over the whole human situation — man individual, ...

Philosophy of history: some reflections on North-east India - Page 60 - S.C. Daniel - 2000 - CHAPTER 8 Sri Aurobindo's Theory of History: A Philosophical Investigation (Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, 1872-1950) This chapter makes an attempt to show that Sri Aurobindo has a full-blooded theory of history, and that it is a combination of ...

Modern Indian History - Page 6-17 - Mohammad Tarique - One of the earliest leaders who criticised the moderate politics systematically, in a series of articles entitled 'New Lamps for Old' was Aurobindo Ghosh. He did not like constitutional method of struggle based on English model and ...

Bengal divided: Hindu communalism and partition, 1932-1947 - Page 13 - Joya Chatterji - 2002 - 57 For an account of Aurobindo Ghosh's rather curious and exceptionally westernised upbringing, see AB Purani, ... 58 Barbara Southard, The Political Strategy of Aurobindo Ghosh', pp. 361 369. Also see Aurobindo's discussion of his ...

The Political Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo - Page 168 - V. P. Varma – 1990 - During the short but vigorously active, almost meteoric political career that Aurobindo had, 2 he earned a great and lasting reputation.3 ... Wrote Subhas: "The illustrious example of Aurobindo Ghosh ...

Congress and Indian nationalism: the pre-independence phase - Page 72 - Richard Sisson, Stanley A. Wolpert - 1988 - 420 pages - Full view

The editorial staff of this paper included BC Pal (the chief editor), Aurobindo Ghosh (who had recently come from Baroda to Calcutta as a college lecturer), Hemendra Prasad Ghosh (a zamindar from Jessore), Shyamsundar Chakrabarti (the ...

Research journal: humanities & social science: Volume 1, Issue 1 - University of Indore - 1972 - Political Vedantism of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh Dr. Ram Chandra Gupta, MA Ph. D: Sri Aurobindo Ghosh (born in 1872) was one of the most creative and significant figures in the Indian Renaissance Movement. He was gifted with surprising powers ...

Nationalism: its theory and principles in India - Page 168 - Parmanand Parashar - 1996 - name was Aurobindo Ghosh." According to Dr. OP Goyal, "From the very beginning. Aurobindo belonged to the Extremist School of Politics in India." Aurobindo dubbed the Moderates as Mendicants because they believed in prayers and ...

Saints, gurus and mystics of India: Volume 2 - Giriraj Shah – 1999 - Sri Aurobindo Ghosh Sri Aurobindo was born on thursday the 15th August 1871 about 5 AM at Calcutta in Bengal in a reputed Ghosh family of Konnagar. His father's name was Krishnadham and mother was known as Swarnalata. ...

Indian Dissertation Abstracts: Volume 7 - 1978 - KARAN SINGH : THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF SRI AUROBINDO GHOSH1893-1910, 1963, Supervisor : CJ. Chacko The Problem The group of extremists in the Indian National Congress contained some of the most extraordinary men of modern India such as ...

Contemporary approaches to value education in India - Page 202 - R. T. Nanda - 1997 - Chapter 11 Sri Aurobindo's Approach to Value Education Life of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950) Sri Aurobindo Ghosh was born on August 15, 1872 in Calcutta. His father Krishnadhan, had desire to anglicise him completely. ...

The Indian historical review: Volume 28 - Indian Council of Historical Research - 2003 - BIPIN CHANDRA PAL AND AUROBINDO GHOSH: A UNIQUE RELATIONSHIP* Devendra Swarup It was a unique relationship, not at the physical level but at the highest intellectual and spiritual level. It was a relationship between two true ... Social and political orientations of Neo-Vedantism: Study of the social philosophy of Vivekananda, Aurobindo, Bipin Chandra Pal, Tagore, Gandhi, Vinoba and Radhakrishnan S. L Malhotra

Literature, caste and society: the masks and veils - Page 164 - S. Jeyaseela Stephen - 2006 - Another rabid extremist who had taken shelter in Pondicherry too was Nagaswami Aiyar who had close contacts with Aurobindo Ghosh. In early 1910, Aurobindo Ghosh had arrived in Pondicherry and men like VVS Aiyar and Subramania Bharati ...

The universalistic thought of India: from the Rigveda to Radhakrishnan - Ramnarayan Vyas - 1970 - Shri Aurobindo Ghosh Aurobindo was not only a great political fighter, philosopher and mystic. He was a great thinker who drew great inspiration from India's past and made some constructive contribution in the realm of social thought. ...

The nationalist movement in India and its leaders - Vidya Dhar Mahajan - 1962 - Aurobindo Ghosh Shri Aurobindo Ghosh, the sage of Pondicherry, shot into prominence during the agitation against the partition of Bengal. As the editor of the Bands Matram, he took the message of the Congress to every home. ...

Political Theory & Thought - Page 444 - Sharma Manoj - Hence, Sri Aurobindo Ghosh developed a positive programme of political action against the British. His objective became the complete freedom ...Besides his revolutionary writings, Sri Aurobindo Ghosh had bcome a member of the secret ...

Imperial Japan and national identities in Asia, 1895-1945 - Page 32 - Li Narangoa, R. B. Cribb - 2003 - REVOLUTIONARY PROPAGANDA: AUROBINDO GHOSH Even though revolutionary conspiracy from 1902 onwards involved different persons, one figure was constantly in the background as organizer and instigator: Aurobindo Ghosh (later Sri Aurobindo, ...

Secular democracy: Volume 4 - 1971 - One important feature of this revivalist element in Aurobindo Ghosh's thought was his claim that nationalism was a ... In this connection it is significant that CR Das, while defending Aurobindo Ghosh in the Aliporc Bomb case said: "The ...

Indian literature in English: critical views - Page 26 - Satish Barbuddhe – 2007 - This extraordinary fervour — the zeal of a new nationalism — came uponAurobindo Ghosh like a divine frenzy. ... The nationalism of Aurobindo Ghosh was a burning religious emotion, the voice of God in man.17 Sri Aurobindo was arrested ...

Sri Aurobindo's Writings - The Mother's Collected Works

nirmalya said, May 7, 2011 at 7:15 am

I also do not prefer calling some one Sri Aurobindo especially when the word Sri was only added sometime after 1926 and remained with him for the next 24 years. it was genuinely insignificant for him. Moreover the addition of `Sri’ does not connote anything special for him as he had gone without it from 1872 – 1926 i.e. almost 54 years. As he dropped his `Acroyd’ middle name when he boarded the ship to India, so also I favor dropping the word `Sri’ . He was a teacher and a guide and we are all his students in the classroom of this world. He was referred to as A.G. in Baroda College and also National Council of Education Bengal (Ref. Aurobindo Ghosh: B Debsharma). Balai Debsharma was one of the first 19 students of AG at the National Council of Education Bengal. As I understand he also did not like that he should have devotees and even went to the extent of prohibiting prostration in front of his picture inside the Ashram. But unfortunately things did change. Please appreciate that we are dealing with a person who was beyond us and of course beyond his time. So it is better to try in finding him in us and not just show obeisance a thing which A.G. never liked given his brilliant education and the reading of all things around.

Ashis Nandy, T.N. Madan, & Rajeev Bhargava

2011-05-11T23:53:00.000+05:30

PRIVATE SECULARISM! | Gurcharan Das - Outlook April 13, 2004 - 07:19

The change began when Ashis Nandy first assaulted the old, orthodox, Nehruvian secularists with his critique of the European modernity in the mid-1980s. He promoted a return to tradition, wherein we might find the roots of a religious tolerance of a different kind, which might better resonate with the masses than the hegemonic language of Western secularism. A year later, T.N. Madan, the distinguished sociologist, wrote that secularism was having a problem in India because the realms of the sacred and secular continued to be deeply intertwined in Indian tradition. Secularism would only succeed in India if we understood it to mean inter-religious understanding and an equality of citizenship rights; he added that we should “take both religion and secularism seriously, and not reject the former as superstition and the latter as a mask for communalism and or more expediency.”

This attack did not go well with the Nehruvian secularists, who roundly chastised Nandy and Madan for feeding into the hands of the Hindu nationalists. In the early nineties, Partha Chatterjeee, the eminent social scientist at Columbia University, questioned if secularism was, in fact, the right way to stop Hindu majoritarianism. The Hindu right, he argued was perfectly comfortable with the institutional processes of the modern state, and the main issue was not ideology, he felt, but to protect the cultural rights of the minorities, and this could best be done through toleration “premised on autonomy and respect for personsâ€¦but made sensitive to the varying political salience of the institutional contexts.”

Neera Chandoke, the political scientist at JNU, responded by arguing that the concept of toleration was not enough and that minorities needed supportive structures in order to protect their cultural identity. The writer, Mukul Kesavan, and others rightly worry, however, that this sort of thinking will only delay the day when we might call ourselves equal and common citizens of one state. Rajeev Bhargava, the editor of an excellent volume of essays on Indian secularism, distinguishes between political and ethical secularism, and says that to exist in a more liveable polity, we as citizens need to agree to what is right rather than what is good. Let's just be content with living together, rather than living together well (which is, of course, another project, and a valid one too.)

So, how do we begin to privatise religion? The answer, I think, lies with the deeply religious but moderate voices in each religion's mainstream, who must come forward and proclaim once again that true religion has nothing to do with political life. The failure of our contemporary public life is that we do not hear these voices, but only hear the shrill voices of extremists at both ends. It was not always so. Earlier, we had sensible public figures who were also deeply religious. Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad, Vivekananda used to speak with credibility on behalf of the vast majority of religiously minded Indians. Today, what we have is an unfortunate polarization between an influential and articulate minority of secularists and the vast majority of silent, religiously minded Indians. Neither takes the trouble to understand the other, and what we have as a result is a dialogue of the deaf. We need to hear the many reasonable voices of good sense within the Hindu and Muslim religious communities, surely, there must be a few courageous individuals who will speak up before their faith is totally hijacked by the terrorists!

Following Rajeev Bhargava, our secularists should learn from the American philosopher, John Rawls, and distinguish between public reason and secular reason. While public reason limits itself to political and civic principles, secular reason is broader and deals with a secular person's moral doctrines and first philosophy. Our secularists need to be aware of this distinction and refrain from introducing secular values and secular reason into political debate. This is not easy to do, I realise, because liberal political values are intrinsically moral values and closely intertwined with moral doctrines.

Above all, let's learn from our own Emperor Ashoka, who ruled when Hindus and Buddhists were fighting each other in mid-third century BCE, and who declared in his famous Edict XII, “The sects of other people deserve reverenceâ€¦By thus acting, a man exalts his own sect, and at the same time does service to the sects of other peopleâ€¦He who disparages the sects of othersâ€¦inflicts the severest injury on his own sect.” Here is a wonderful insight for our times: you damage your own religion when you malign another's and secularism is not only good for governance but also for religion. Those who call for a Hindu nation not only harm the nation, they also damage Hinduism.

Many of the ills of contemporary Indian society can be traced to the unfinished agenda of the Indian renaissance

2011-03-01T10:29:00.004+05:30

Was there a renaissance?
Frontline - K.N. Panikkar

By the 20th century, Brahmo Samaj and Prarthana Samaj increasingly lost their appeal, Arya Samaj ceased to be a social force, Satya Shodak Samaj could not ...

Nietzsche: He rattled church, his philosophy a generation He admired Manu
Organiser - Vaidehi Nathan
FRIEDRICH Nietzsche is a cult. He has been deified by almost all who read him, studied him and researched on him. Such is the pull of the man, his words and philosophy.

BOOK REVIEW: The Wealth Of Adam
In 'Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life' Phillipson depicts the man behind the legend by representing his ideas through a detailed biography of the economist and his great works

two online articles moved
from Object-Oriented Philosophy by doctorzamalek
“In Praise of the Spooky”
“A Larger Sense of Beauty”

An ardent follower of Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo's philosophy

2011-02-13T21:41:00.000+05:30

A Prolific Writer, Chittaranjan Das is no more | Orissa News ... 17 Jan 2011

On Sunday afternoon, Prof. Chittaranjan Das popularly known as ‘Chitta bhai’ passed away at the age of 89. He was admitted in Kalinga Hospital, Bhubaneswar suffering from broken left leg.

Prof. Das was invited to start the Post Basic School at Champatimunda, Dist. Angul by the late Nabakrushna Choudhuri and late Malati Choudhury. The Champatimunda Post Basic School was known as Jeevan Vidyalaya. The programmes and activities of the Jeevan Vidyalaya had inspiration from Gandhian Basic Education and thoughts of Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore. Prof. Das was well-versed in Rabindrasangeet.

He was a prolific writer. He writings reflects profound theories of Education and Development. He was influenced very much by the Danish Educationists and Philosophers. He was very fluent in Danish language.

He held from Bagalpur (Jagatsinghpur dist.) where his last rites has been performed during the midnight.

Chittaranjan Das popularly known as 'Chitta bhai' passed away at the age of 89. He was admitted in Kalinga Hospital, Bhubaneswar.

The Hindu : Other States / Orissa News : Chitta Bhai passes away 18 Jan 2011 - Correspondent

BHUBANESWAR: Writer, translator, educationist and social reformer Chittaranjan Das, popularly known as Chitta Bhai among the Oriyas, passed away here on Sunday. He was 87 and is survived by his wife and a son.

According to family sources, Das was admitted to hospital here on December 20 after he fell down at his residence and had a fracture in his left leg. Though surgery was successfully conducted on him, his vital organs showed complications due to old age and finally he succumbed. Das was born in 1923 in Balagpur village in Jagatsinghpur district and had his college studies at Cuttack. He later had his higher studies at Tagore's Shantiniketan and at Copenhagen University in Denmark. An avid traveller, he knew 18 languages. He also taught at several schools and colleges abroad before his return to India.

Upon his return to India, he spent the rest of his life in literary pursuits and promotion of education. He had set up a number of educational institutions.

An ardent follower of Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo's philosophy, he was responsible for promotion of Gandhian ideology and Sri Aurobindo Ashram's educational system in Orissa.

Das penned and published more than 200 books that include a large number of essays, translations and his autobiography as well. He was recipient of a number of literary awards and honours that included Central Sahitya Akademi Award, Sarala Samman, Orissa Sahitya Akademi Award, Sahitya Bharati Samman and Prajatatantra Bisuba Puraskar.

His body was consigned to flames in his native village.

Tilak's was a patriarchal and orthodox position

2011-02-12T21:55:00.000+05:30

Foundations Of Tilak S Nationalism - Parimala V. Rao - 2010 - 372 pages - Orient BlackSwan

Editorial Reviews Product Description

Foundations of Tilak s Nationalism: Discrimination, Education and Hindutva shows how, as opposed to being simply a struggle of the colonised against the coloniser s oppression, the anti-colonial struggle in India was much more nuanced and complicated. In this process, it examines the role of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and draws attention to issues concerning education, gender, caste, peasantry and communalism, how these were interlinked and had a decisive influence on his anti-colonial nationalism. The study also deconstructs the categories of the moderate and the extremist, the reformer and the orthodox and questions the validity of calling reformers like M. G. Ranade, G. K. Gokhale, N. G. Chandavarkar and G. G. Agarkar as moderates, collaborators and compradors of colonial rule.

This book critically analyses Tilak s stance against a single Indian nationality free from caste and religious prejudices and gender inequalities, of how he advocated the hegemonic control of the landed elites over society contrary to that of the Reformers and inquires into the debates concerning the Nationalist agenda of preventing women and non-Brahmins from gaining access to education. Tilak's was a patriarchal and orthodox position, that ideated that teaching Hindu women to read and write would ruin their traditional virtues making them immoral and subordinate. Criticism of the caste system and allowing education to women and non-Brahmins, were according to Tilak, un-national tendencies and against the Hindu nation. The author also addresses the origin of the concept of Hindutva and locates it not in the conflict of interest between the Hindus and Muslims, or the Hindus and the British, but in the discarding of religious neutrality and the enforcement of caste restrictions. In this context, the author presents the ideology of Hindutva as one further away from the concept of Hinduism, a rigorous representation of the Muslim other and traces in it the consequent rise of communalism.

In refuting the value premises of viewing an individual independent of caste identity, this book also sheds light on Tilak s constant ridicule of the Reformers emphasis on the Bhakti tradition as a source of spiritual guidance. It introduces the reader to the vehement Nationalist critique of Vedic revivalism, i.e., the advocation of the Vedic religion and a Vedic way of life, which included Vedic rituals, relaxation of rigid caste restrictions and improvement in the condition of women by adopting post-puberty marriage, widow marriage and the education of girls that attempted to incorporate the lower caste groups into its fold shattering the social and economic hegemony of the Brahmins. This meticulous piece of scholarship is a crucial insight into Tilak s role in India s struggle for independence and questions the basis of his status as an uncompromising champion of the freedom movement and his being projected as the greatest Maharashtrian. In trying to read history from an entirely new perspective, this book will be useful to students and scholars of modern Indian history, education, political science and gender studies.

About the Author

Parimala V. Rao is Assistant Professor at Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has written extensively on the nationalist discourse on gender, caste and peasantry.

Sri Aurobindo had advised Gandhi to accept the Cabinet Mission Plan

2011-02-09T15:25:00.000+05:30

Jinnah and Secularism: Crime of Jinnah

General Wavell had tried until the last moment to keep India united, but Gandhi sent a telegram to Clement Attlee, the then Prime-Minister of Britain to replace General Wavell. Sri Aurobindo had advised Gandhi to accept the Cabinet Mission Plan to keep India united, but Gandhi asked Sri Aurobindo not to interfere in political matter.

Foundations of Vedic Science & Mysticism ChakraNews.com

Sri Aurobindo affirms “The perfect truth of the Veda, where it is now hidden, can only be recovered by the same means by which it was originally possessed. ...

M.Phil Sri Aurobindo Studies

which help them build a strong foundation in the various aspects of the integral thought and vision of Sri Aurobindo. ...

Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts & Communication, New Delhi is a centre for learning that promotes individual growth with emphasis on deeper understanding of creative expressions and mass media. SACAC follows a unique approach in teaching courses for arts and communication that is more focussed and yet integrated from regular mass communication courses.

Auro University

Auro University, Surat, Gujarat* in technical collaboration with the University of South Carolina (USC), Columbia, USA, will be announcing the launch of the ...

In academic year 2011, Auro University will launch the School of Hospitality, Restaurant & Sports Management, offering students a Bachelor of Science degree in Hospitality Management.

The School of Management and Entrepreneurship will offer students a Bachelor degree in Business Administration (BBA) and a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA).

The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - LUDHIANA

The Sri Aurobindo College of Commerce and Management here organised the "Run for Fitness" on Tuesday. A total of 400 students and all faculty members of the ...

the seventh waves: Integral Yoga Books

Siddhi Day: Homage To Sri Aurobindo And The Mother... The True Meaning Of Deepavali · The Importance Of Sri Ramakrishna ...

Buzz by Jitendra Sharma

Sri Aurobindo comes most prominently to mind as one of these figures, who has perhaps given us some of the clearest indicators to guide us to an integral ...

Shwetav Agarwal (shwetav_agarwal) on Twitter

Distrust the man who has never failed and suffered; follow not his fortunes, fight not under his banner. - Sri Aurobindo

Charting a course to the next Renaissance

2011-02-08T16:56:00.000+05:30

Why didn't economists predict the crisis? from Marginal Revolution by Tyler Cowen

Raghu Rajan nails it: “I would argue that three factors largely explain our collective failure: specialization, the difficulty of forecasting, and the disengagement of much of the profession from the real world.” Read the whole thing, hat tip to Mark Thoma.

Thomas Friedman weighs in by doctorzamalek (Graham Harman)

Here’s his new OPINION PIECE about Tahrir Square, in which he grasps what much American media seems not to be grasping: this is something new. Friedman’s piece will probably make you feel happy, so read it immediately.

Indian Constitution and Hindutva - A comment by B.A.Desai from Communalism Watch by c-info

by B.A. Desai (Senior Advocate Fmr. Minister Fmr. Add. Solicitor General of

India

)

Indian constitution is both a Legal and Social Document. The unique Freedom Struggle based on “Truth and Non Violence” took in its fold all sections of the Society, the Rich and The Poor Man and Women, Youth all Religious Communities, be it Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Parsis, Sikh, Jain in fact all castes and …

Hitler as Darwinian Word Made Flesh from One Cosmos by Gagdad Bob - Feb 4, 2011

As Van Vrekhem writes, Hitler believed he "had been sent, and was constantly guided, to change the conscience and morality of man into something like the opposite of Christianity." This would be "a new system of values based on brutality and violence." Hitler actually saw Christ as his precursor, in that he would be the "link," so to speak, between the Volk and their most primitive instincts. Again, it was very much as if he were "word made flesh," except that in this case, the word was the primordial lie from below…

Hitler wrote that "the life of the individual should not be given such high value. A fly lays a million eggs, they all die. But flies survive." As Van Vrekhem notes, "the perspectives this opens reveal something of the real dimension of the evil to be discovered behind all the destruction and slaughter caused by this German Messiah."

Vedanta University is an opportunity of a millennium for Odisha

2010-12-24T21:39:00.000+05:30

Save Vedanta University in Puri Campaign in Facebook and beyond by Chitta Baral December 23rd, 2010

A Compendium on Vedanta University in Facebook : bit.ly/vedantau December 23rd, 2010 Following is the content from http://on.fb.me/vedantau.

In less than three months we have created a sizable compendium on Vedanta University, mostly based on information collected from the web. They are available in the page http://www.facebook.com/vedantau . Given below are the links to important parts of that collection.

Please share this with your friends in FB or otherwise and urge them to explore it. We need to spread this information so that more and more people (especially from Odisha and India) are aware of the benefits of this university and its importance to Odisha and India and are not swayed by misinformation spread by some vested interests. This is an opportunity of a millennium for Odisha and we must not miss this.

1. http://bit.ly/vedantau-radio : A radio interview of the main architect of Vedanta University. It was done by a radio station in the US in 2007. It will tell you everything about the university and the motivation behind it.

2. http://bit.ly/vedantau-video2 : A video interview of Anil Agarwal by Charlie Rose of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) of USA. He talks about the Vedanta University and how it came about.

3. http://bit.ly/vedantau1 : A 43 page pdf document by me titled "Vedanta University: Its importance to Odisha and India." This document address the significance and importance of Vedanta University for Odisha and India through the following points.

http://on.fb.me/vedantau1-1 : India currently does not have a single world class university.
http://on.fb.me/vedantau1-2 : Vedanta University has a chance of becoming India’s first world class university.
http://on.fb.me/vedantau1-3 : The role of private funding in making world-class universities in India; the advantage of Vedanta University
http://on.fb.me/vedantau1-4 : Impact of Vedanta University on Bhubaneswar-Puri area, on Odisha and on India

In addition it addresses the following frequently asked questions (FAQs):

http://on.fb.me/vedantau-faq0 : Why does Vedanta University needs so much land?
http://on.fb.me/vedantau-faq2 : Why should we believe that Mr. Anil Agarwal will indeed keep his promise and donate $1 Billion for this university?
http://on.fb.me/vedantau-faq3 : What progress has been made towards making Vedanta University?
http://on.fb.me/vedantau-faq4 : Why is there opposition to Vedanta University in Odisha? What about the high court case verdict on land acquisition?

4. http://on.fb.me/vedantau-s1 : Why Vedanta University is important for Odisha? A statement by Dr. Dhanada Mishra, Bhubaneswar.

5. http://on.fb.me/vedantau-s2 : Vedanta University – Will You Gain? A slide presentation by Devasis Sarangi, Bhubaneswar

6. http://on.fb.me/vedantau-s4 : Vedanta University is an academic question. An appeal to Odisha academics by Professor S P Misra, Bhubaneswar.

7. http://on.fb.me/vedantau-s5 : Why we need Vedanta University in Odisha? A statement by Manmohan Dash, currently at Bhubaneswar.

8. http://on.fb.me/vedantau-s6 : Why Vedanta University is important for Odisha? A statement by Sujeet Jena, originally from Puri, Currently in Sydney, Australia.

9. http://on.fb.me/vedantau-s7 : I am propagating the project. What will I get? Umashankar Das (currently at Bangalore) answers questions posed to him on his support for Vedanta University.

Market colonization of the virtual public sphere

2010-12-15T22:14:00.000+05:30

XIII International Conference

Forum on Contemporary Theory, Baroda in collaboration with Department of English and Cultural Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Theme: The Virtual Transformation of the Public Sphere

15-18 December 2010 Venue: Hotel Parkview, Chandigarh, India

Program-Schedule

Thursday, 16^th December Venue: Banquet Hall (Upper)

feelphilosophy.blogspot.com/2010/12/cyberspace-and-postmodern-democracy.html

Friday, 17^th December

Fifth Session (Plenary) Venue: Banquet Hall (Upper)

9:00 – 10:00 am Chair: Ravina Aggarwal

Speaker: Lewis R. Gordon, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Philosophy, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA

Topic: “Market Colonization of the Virtual Public Sphere?”

Sixth Session 10:00 – 11:30 am Venue: Board Room

A3: New Media, New Identities Chair: Deepti Gupta

a) Vipan Pal Singh, “Media Culture and the Construction of Postmodern Identities”

b) Nizara Hazarika, “Inventing the Self in the Public Domain of Cyberspace: A Cyberfeminist Perspective”

c) Charulata Singh, “New Media Technologies and the Cultural Shift: Changing Dimensions of Public Sphere and Identities”

d) Balaji Ranganathan, “The Virtual World and the Reconstruction of the Self”

B3: Virtual Realities/Real Consequences Chair: Jaspal K. Singh

Venue: Conference Room

a) Kalpana Purohit, “Being In-Between Two Worlds”

b) Ankit Gandhi, “Online Blogging Communities Threatening Real Life Relations”

c) Jyoti Rane, “Honour and Killing - Community Public Sphere vs. Public Sphere of a Nation State”

C3: The Virtual Construction of Culture Chair: William D. Pederson

Venue: Banquet Hall (Lower)

a) Shweta Rao, “Virtual Kitchens: Food and Community in Media”

b) Alankar Kaushik, “The Public Sphere and Media: Vernacular Television Networks”

c) Ankita Sharma, “Media and Degeneration of the Public Sphere: A Critique of the Ad World”

Seventh Session (Plenary) 11:45 – 1.00 pm

Chair: Javeed Alam Venue: Banquet Hall (Upper)

Speaker: Akeel Bilgrami, Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy and Director, the Heyman Centre for the Humanities, Columbia University, New York, USA

Topic: “The Mentality of Democracy”

Eighth Session 2.00 –3.30 pm Venue: Conference Room

A4: New Media Sexualities Chair: James Winchester

a) Bini B.S., “The Public Spheres of Vicarious Fulfillments: Live Sex on the Internet and the Performative Dynamics of Body and Sexuality”

b) Dibyajyoti Borah & Ratan Deka, “Social Networking, Sexuality of the Closet and the Second Life”

c) Golam Rabbani, “Media and Peeping Tom Culture: Disorienting Public Spectacle in the Evolution of Voyeurism”

d) Sunita Manian, “New Media Erasing Boundaries or Erecting Barriers?: Gay/Transgendered vs. Kothi/Aravani”

B4: The Location of Literature

Chair: Rumina Sethi Venue: Banquet Hall (Lower)

a) Marie Fernandes, “Reconstruction of Galeta from White Marble to Mechanical Cyborg”

b) Supriya Agarwal, “Modernity and Gender in Shashi Deshpande’s Urban Novels”

c) Urmil Talwar, “The Dialectics of Private and Public Spaces in the Poetics of Marginality in The Survivor”

C4: Representations 2

Chair: Anil Raina Venue: Board Room

a) Geetanjali Bhagat, “Ironic Juxtaposition of Media, Ethics, Politics and Public Sphere: A Critique of Peepli Live”

b) Sanchita Choudhury, “Bāul Fusion Music Emerging as a New Genre in the Domain of Fusion Music Fuelled by Media of the Milieu”

c) Rajyashree Khushu-Lahiri, “Stories of a Lifetime: New Media and Orality”

Ninth Session (Plenary) Venue: Banquet Hall (Upper)

3:30 – 4.30 pm Chair: Bishnu Mohapatra

Speaker: R. Radhakrishnan, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of California at Irvine, USA

Topic: “Public Spheres and the Challenge of Self-Reflexivity”

Tenth Session (Plenary) 4:45–6:30 pm Venue: Banquet Hall (Upper)

Gurdial Singh’s Novel Unhoye (The Survivors) Chair: Gour K. Das

Speaker: a) M.L. Raina, Former Professor of English, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Topic: “Modern, Postmodern, Pre-Modern: What Survives in The Survivors?”

Speaker: a) M.L. Raina, Former Professor of English, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Topic: “Modern, Postmodern, Pre-Modern: What Survives in The Survivors?”

Speaker: b) Rana Nayar, Professor and Head, Department of English, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Topic: “On Translating Gurdial Singh’s Unhoye”

Speaker: c) Gurpal Sandhu, Department of Panjabi, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Topic: “Decentring Reality: Self, Tradition and Modernity”

Saturday, 18^th December

Eleventh Session 9.00 –10.30 am Venue: Board Room

A5: Blog/Twitter Politics Chair: Kanika Batra

a) Soni Wadhwa Kar, “The Promise of the Sindhi Websites”

b) Amy Parish, “Stuff White People Like, Blogging and the ‘Racialisation’ of White Subjectivities”

c) Sumedha Iyer, “Twitter and the Public Intellectual”

B5: Literature and Technology Chair: Lovelina Singh Venue: Conference Room

a) Manju Dhariwal, “A Vision of Virtual Sphere in Kafka’s ‘Penal Colony’: Its Relation with Introna’s ‘Obligation’”

b) Nipun Kalia & Kriti Kalia, “From Ink to Pixels: Literature in a Digital Avatar”

c) S. Sridevi Selvaraj, “A Study of Mediated Internet Literature – A Facet of Electronic Communities”

d) Urjani Chakravarty, “Relevance Theory and New Media: Interpreting Pattern Change in Literary Criticism”

C5: Open Questions, Or, the Jury is Still Out on the New Media

Chair: Manju Jaidka Venue: Banquet Hall (Lower)

a) Smriti Singh, “From an Imagined Community to a Virtual Community: A Borderless World”

b) Aruni Mahapatra, “Sharing or Stealing? Some Reflections on Piracy and Ethics Today”

c) Lovleen Bains, “Is New Media Helping or Hurting the Growth of Literacy?”

Twelfth Session 10.45–12:15 pm Venue: Banquet Hall (Lower)

A6: “Are We Socially Networked Yet?” Chair: Akshaya Kumar

a) Mallika V. Kumar & P. E. Thomas, “Anonymity and Online Interaction – A Thematic Perspective”

b) Sanghamitra Sadhu, “Fashioning the Self on the Sites: Plausibility of a Virtual Public Sphere”

c) Mashrur Hossain, “2b/X2b=?: IM & d trnsloc8ing f a virtual sphere”

d) Sukhdeep Ghuman, “The Ever-expanding Sphere of Cyber Communities”

B6: The Pedagogical Imperative Chair: Timothy Allen Jackson Venue: Board Room

a) Pankaj Roy, “The Virtual Transformation of the Public Sphere: Media’s Role in the Growth of Learning”

b) Meenu Gupta, “Virtual Worlds A Contemporary Pedagogical Reality of Teaching and Learning”

c) Meeta Chatterjee Padmanabhan, “Some Real Problems Faced in the Virtual World of Online Learning”

d) Rich Rice, “Writing for Life: Narrow–Casted Mass Convergence and the Consumption of Newly–Mediated Knowledge”

Thirteenth Session 12:15 – 1:15 pm Venue: Banquet Hall (Lower)

Open Session & Valedictory Chair: Prafulla C. Kar

What a miracle it is that things work at all

2010-12-12T14:00:00.000+05:30

Inward Christian Soldiers! from One Cosmos by Gagdad Bob (Robert Godwin)

Interesting that early Christianity spread in part by virtue of the sadistic violence visited upon its adherents… Once Christianity became the state religion and the era of persecution ended, a new kind of "interior martyrdom" emerged, as serious seekers fled to the desert in order to find God in the solitude of the heart. These souls engaged in a kind of extreme seeking that is also difficult for us to comprehend. I mean, it's one thing to join a monastery and become part of an interior community, but they didn't exist until much later.

Then again, perhaps there are spiritual challenges and temptations in our day that people from even one hundred years ago couldn't imagine. Most of us will never know what amounted to constants among pre-modern people, including hunger, disease, war (up close and personal, not in a distant land), chronic pain, constant loss, and early death.

Thus, for any thinking person, the utter futility of the world must have seemed quite obvious. It's the same with the Buddha's advice -- it wasn't nearly as difficult to detach from the world when the world had so little to recommend it. What was one giving up, really? Few had any possessions, any private property, any aspirations, anything to read, or anything to do except subsist.

So in an odd way, the present world undoubtedly requires its own kind of spiritual athleticism in order to transcend it, since the temptations and distractions are so much greater. In a way, the more fulfilling the world is, the more pain there is. How did people in the past endure the routine loss of a child? I would guess that infant mortality was so high, that the vast majority of parents had lost at least one child. Nowadays, this constitutes a tragic minority. Indeed, even a miscarriage is an occasion for grief, whereas I can't imagine premodern people giving it a second thought.

As I speculated in the book, this must have affected the way the premodern psyche grew and developed. We now know that the psyche is formed on the basis of attachment to early objects, and that any kind of disruption in the attachment process leaves emotional and cognitive scars for life.

Of course we can never know with certainty, but there is good evidence that prior to modernity, parents didn't invest a lot of emotional energy in their children until there was a good chance they'd survive infancy, so I don't see how this could not have resulted in what we would call schizoid (i.e., detached), depressed, or paranoid personalities (i.e., bitter, distrusting, and angry people) on a widespread basis.

For us, the modern world is so alluring that we can forget all about transcendence. It gives the illusion that it can fulfill us, but this is a promise that it can never keep. Unconsciously, this attachment to the world probably just makes us feel less secure. In a perverse way, the more secure we actually are, the less secure we may feel, because we expect things to go perfectly. We can come enticingly close to controlling most of the variables in our lives -- which only makes it more maddening that in reality we are promised nothing.

I am sure this is what animates the angry and hysterical control freaks of the left. They always wants to make things "better," with no appreciation of what a miracle it is that things work at all. They have no earthly conception that the optimal will never be perfect, and that in pursuing perfection, they will only engender the sub-optimal. Their attempts at control always generate chaos, for which they recommend more of the same.

Unintended consequences of Maoism

2010-11-15T12:08:00.000+05:30

Zizek in Manhattan: An intellectual charlatan masquerading as “left” World Socialist Web Site - Bill Van Auken, Adam Haig - ‎Nov 11, 2010‎

‌‌Zizek is an outgrowth of a reactionary anti-Marxist and anti-materialist tradition that descends from the irrationalism of Schelling, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Heidegger. He eclectically draws on the neo-Nietzschean and neo-Heideggerian thought of 1960s French post-structuralism, having adopted the ideas of its leading intellectuals—especially the post-Heideggerian psychoanalysis of Jacques Lacan—when he was a graduate student…

Besides irrationalism, post-structuralism and psychoanalysis, a more recent influence on ‌‌Zizek has been the septuagenarian French philosopher Alain Badiou, an admirer of Mao, who advocates the petty-bourgeois concept of “politics without party” and maintains the voluntarist notion that “we must go from politics to economy and never from economy to politics.”[1]

‌‌Zizek has expressed similar-sounding ideas and also adopts Badiou’s mystical concept of the Event—a self-relating and self-inclusive phenomenon that appears to those who see themselves in its call, as it is characterized in ‌‌Zizek’s The Parallax View (2009).[2] …

That a charlatan and anti-Marxist like ‌‌Zizek is promoted as an important philosopher by a whole range of ex-radicals is a troubling symptom of the deep intellectual and political disorientation of this social milieu.

The Wind from the East: French Intellectuals, the Cultural Revolution, and the ... The Guardian - Richard Wolin - ‎Nov 12, 2010‎

Curiously the Maoists had missed out on 1968 itself. Blinded by dogmatism, they assumed that an event led by students could not be serious…

There are no Maoists left now except for the unrepentant – but now bizarrely fashionable – philosopher Alain Badiou, who is still willing to defend the Khmer Rouge with Mao's chilling comment "the revolution is not a dinner party". But Wolin's book is not just about a strange few years of political folly. He argues that by a process of unintended consequences Maoism allowed a generation of French political activists to rediscover the language of human rights. This is not a totally original argument, but Wolin expounds it effectively. The Maoists might live with "China in our heads", as the saying went, but their political activism also caused them to explore what French society was really like.

Following Mao's dictum that "one must get down from the horse in order to pluck the flower", many idealistic young Maoist radicals went to work in factories. In the same spirit Foucault helped to found the Prison Information Group (GIP) to investigate and denounce the conditions in French prisons. This experience led him to substitute Sartre's idea of the all-knowing "universal" intellectual with that of the "specific" intellectual who comments only on concrete cases that he knows about. In another curious twist of history, it was through a Maoist-influenced group called Vive la Révolution that homosexual liberation first entered French radical politics in 1971.

For Wolin, then, if France is today less authoritarian than it once was, with a more active associative life where many people are engaged in causes such as the defence of sans-papiers – illegal immigrants – that is one of the legacies of the strange Maoist moment. If that's true, no wonder Sarkozy dislikes May '68 so much. Julian Jackson's books include France: The Dark Years, 1940-1944(Oxford).

Religions decline and proliferate Jakarta Post - Amika Wardana - ‎Nov 11, 2010‎

It has been three decades since the secularization thesis predicted religion's role would decline in human sociopolitical life.

How values shape human progress

2010-11-07T13:15:00.000+05:30

Good Topic - Falls Short of Aim, August 6, 2010 By Doug Norton - See all my reviews This review is from: Moral Markets: The Critical Role of Values in the Economy

Economists gravitate toward explanation by incentives; but, values also constitute motivations for action. The premise of this book was to investigate the values-based explanations and demonstrate the "Critical Role of Values in the Economy". Sadly, if that was the aim of this book it was a disappointment. While the diversity of disciplines provides alternative perspective on values (their transmission, acceptance, evolutionary basis) the feel of the whole book is disjointed. There were, however, a few bright spots amidst several misguided articles. The particulars of the basis for my critique are below, but, overall I would still recommend the book as a first cut at a discussion about morality and markets. […]

This book on "the critical role of values" pursues only evolutionary explanations of values and disregards the role of religion in values formation. Sometimes this disregard is not merely from absence but is rather flippant. For example, Goodenough writes, "Where does the capacity for such internal commitments come from? Some look to religion, and indeed a divine, designing power would have good reason as a matter of mechanism design to put such a capacity into humans, a gift as essential to their eventual well-being as sight and locomotion. But such a divine gift is not the province of science; we rely on that wonderful mechanism for bootsrapping adaptive design: evolution." Not a peep about religion and the formation of values. What makes this more interesting is that this project was funded by the Templeton Foundation! […]

There is a sense that some of the authors begrudgingly admit that markets are overall a "good thing". This is captured well in Charles Handy's final chapter ". . . the urgent question now is how best to retain the energy produced by the old model without its flaws."
The authors are willing to admit that capitalism provides a dynamic environment in which innovation is allowed with greater incentive, but, they seem reluctant to embrace the outcomes of capitalism. One might think that the authors would say, "Yes, indeed we are reluctant to embrace capitalism ---look at all the cowboys out there screwing everything up!" (this book was being written in the midst of all the financial scandals). But, what is the alternative? More regulation?
The reliance of government would present plenty of public choice problems. Then, we must point to the importance of values in the political process! The critique is meant to elucidate the fact that human beings are flawed people and since humans comprise government, business, and other organizational structures those same problems will persist in all contexts unless values are strong.

Maharashtra’s contribution has been equal or even greater than that of Bengal

2010-10-31T11:58:00.000+05:30

Marathi contribution to reforms has been ignored: Ramachandra Guha

Economic Times - Home » Opinion » Interviews 31 OCT, 2010 ramachandra guha makers of modern india book

Historian & sociologist Ramachandra Guha recently visited New Delhi for Penguin India lecture based on his book Makers of Modern India, which presents the writings and profiles of 19 men and women who nurtured the Indian political tradition. …

Is it a coincidence that a majority of those who have made it to your list, either for their place of birth or working, come from West India?

(Laughs) I think it happened by accident. Maharashtra was the crucible of political activism and social reforms from the late 19th century till the 1950s. That tradition of reform has been ignored. One of the reasons is that their writings have been in Marathi. Another reason is that writings in Indian history have been dominated by Bengali intellectuals who know Bengali and write well in English. So they have been able to communicate with a national or global audience. Objectively, I would say Maharashtra’s contribution (to social reforms and political thinking) has been equal or even greater than that of Bengal. The more I read and researched, I was sure Maharashtra had contributed to social and political reforms much more than any other part of the country. Book: Makers of Modern India Indian Express 'Sectarianism is something I want to challenge with this book' Financial Express

Sri Aurobindo.The Rishi from Baroda - pinakipandit's blog By pinaki pandit

Marketime

Terrorist approach in the freedom struggle of India

Three influential advocates

Sri Aurobindo is the pivotal need

Sri Aurobindo during 1890-1920

Debt in culture

Boita Bandana Utsav at Delhi Haat

Boita Bandana Utsav on 10th November 2011 at India Gate

Conflict between modern and postmodern

Tribalism and organized township

Annihilating social fascism

Full scope of free Market

The Life Divine covers the Vedic Vedanta Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo

Lessons for Anna Hazare from J.P. Movement

Mystic thought of Kashmir & RSS thought process

Sri Aurobindo and Roy both supported the Cripp’s offer

The abiding appeal of this controversial book lies in its empirical depth

Dharna against Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trustees in Puducherry

Complex economy and million mutinies

Change that is positive, rapid, and infectious

Influential editors are now commonly lobbying pliant politicians

Dr. Subramanian Swamy & Rajiv Malhotra

Colossal and stupid wastage of wealth

Democracy's multiple sequences and consequences

Without gossip there can be no democracy

Gandhi and Tagore are both external critiques of the west and internal critiques of the east

Bad devotees; good clients

Freedom was won and our nation built by towering spiritual leaders

Sri Aurobindo's Letters on Himself and the Ashram

God is seen as providing divine sanction for the most horrendous violence

History of armed struggle against the colonial rule

Sri Aurobindo was like a sun amongst the stars

Ashis Nandy, T.N. Madan, & Rajeev Bhargava

Many of the ills of contemporary Indian society can be traced to the unfinished agenda of the Indian renaissance

Was there a renaissance? Frontline - K.N. Panikkar

Was there a renaissance?

Nietzsche: He rattled church, his philosophy a generation He admired Manu Organiser - Vaidehi Nathan

two online articles moved from Object-Oriented Philosophy by doctorzamalek

An ardent follower of Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo's philosophy

Tilak's was a patriarchal and orthodox position

Sri Aurobindo had advised Gandhi to accept the Cabinet Mission Plan

Charting a course to the next Renaissance

Vedanta University is an opportunity of a millennium for Odisha

Market colonization of the virtual public sphere

What a miracle it is that things work at all

Unintended consequences of Maoism

How values shape human progress

Maharashtra’s contribution has been equal or even greater than that of Bengal

Was there a renaissance?
Frontline - K.N. Panikkar

Nietzsche: He rattled church, his philosophy a generation He admired Manu
Organiser - Vaidehi Nathan

two online articles moved
from Object-Oriented Philosophy by doctorzamalek