Saturday, June 30, 2018

Modi steers clear of the imaginary glory of Hindutva

The proposed model describes a spontaneous (no external force or agency required) relativistic mass creation/dilation process allowing a non-zero photon mass at rest (emission and absorption), which dilates to zero as it expands and accelerates to the speed of light thru uninterrupted space. The model thus bridges gaps between relativity and Maxwell’s theories. Integrating gravity into the model leads to a fundamental universe model that is shown to predict the observed universe/galaxy behavior and resolves paradoxes of the big bang cosmology including, dark energy, dark matter, cosmological constant, and big bang (GR) singularity without the need for superluminous inflation. The model also makes testable predictions for falsification via future observations and provides a new fundamental understanding of universal constants such as C, commonly known as speed of light. The results may have significant implications for the current standard model, big bang cosmology, and fundamental understanding of the universe.

Part-2 of the paper extends the relativistic model to describe the physics of the observed spontaneous complimentary or dualistic wave-particle behavior of quantum particles as an alternative to the well-known de Broglie model. It explains the inner workings of quantum mechanics resolving its major paradoxes including the collapse of the wave function, parallel universes, vacuum energy, and non-locality (spooky action-at-distance).
Avtar Singh, Sc. D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Alumni
Center for Horizons Research, avsingh@alum.mit.edu
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Assorted Tweets for general information:

Modi has ruled the country for a period exceeding six previous non-Congress Prime Ministers (except Vajpayee). Accepting him as he is is in order because experts on event management and image management are behind him. Those opposed to him are no better: fake news, paid news, etc

Puru in Girish Karnard's Yayati denies having superhuman capabilities of his forefathers. Modi similarly steers clear of the imaginary glory of Hindutva and this ideological shift is no less significant than Deendayal, Nehru, or Roy. @Janamejayan may examine in his Dharma thread.

Visit our bookstore to purchase collections of essays from the EPW on a variety of topics.

Some may remember the deadly book of Aristotle that plays a vital part in the plot of Umberto Eco’s 1980 novel 'The Name of the Rose'. Could something like this happen in reality? Poisoning by books? https://t.co/Phb0O4l1YL

NEW ESSAY IN FORUM | Tracy Fessenden writes about teaching religion and politics in the classroom, and the ways the conversation about sex and secularism can help us navigate religion and politics in the immediate present.

RSS has to be blamed for the partition while giving clean chit to Jinnah. RSS should also be blamed for the emergency while glorifying Indira for restoring democracy afterwards. Shamelessness of these people has no bounds: https://t.co/YIYTKV1ZcA

Where with Class, Grace and Substance, @ReallySwara Patiently schools BJP Youth Politician and Student of Entire Political Science - @abhishekasia - the meaning of Feminism https://t.co/V1uZA4J6fH

The Anatomy of a Indian Liberal Pre 2014

great talk by @leashless. summary: techno-elites and #blockchain billionaires should be funding space projects to do asteroid mining. what say you, @brockpierce? i’d be surprised and disappointed if you haven’t reached out to @elonmusk or @JeffBezos already๐Ÿ˜Ž๐Ÿฟ https://t.co/1tM0Ifyh24

Do you want to know the future? In 2016 I predicted $10bn of investment in the blockchain space, and people thought I was nuts https://t.co/3OK8J7ZxQe now, consider blockchain and financing space exploration https://t.co/UGw8GFY9Fh Something very interesting is coming. Be alert!

Humanities has evolved over three millennia and tech progress is an integral part of that. Sri Aurobindo foregrounds technology of consciousness which is gradually invading all branches and sub-branches of science and technology including AI. Bruno Marchal says same on Mechanism.

Sri Aurobindo hints at sounds being at the core of creative process and Saussure applied this principle of Sanskrit words leading to the whole philosophy of Structuralism. The Mother too highlighted the transformative potential of Japa on body cells. Mantra thus has its utility.

After earning MA degree, writing BA as qualification is no longer necessary. Encountering The Mother & Sri Aurobindo similarly turns all old texts, philosophies, and theologies redundant save strict academic purpose. Eulogising great men/women therefore should be done critically.

Lal-Bal-Pal had close links with Sri Aurobindo but they are poles apart; his praise for Bankim or Vivekananda similarly is not without criticism. Thus, the key principle is Evolution and even Tulsi, Kabir, or Nanak fall short on this count. Indians must stop looking back at past.

What Sri Aurobindo did or said responding to the necessities and challenges of his own time can't be applied to current political perceptions in toto. Rather, his prognostications should form the basis to go back to the drawing board for reinventing Nation vis-ร -vis #WorldUnion.

[Many of his articles (1910) contain allusions to Ireland and its freedom struggle in different contexts. However several years later, sometime between 1943 and 1946, at his ashram in Pondicherry Aurobindo took recourse to an entirely different position.] https://t.co/8ZjWfvMVzd

When we invoke the Veda in the context of Sri Aurobindo, it doesn't simply refer to the Samhitas or whole of the hymns. That would be literalism and ritualism. Knowing simple connotations of words like Bhaga or Varuna alters one's worldview and unveils its Evolutionary dimension.

Reading all of Sri Aurobindo's works is a challenge and one must aim at that. The Secret of the Veda is fundamental to understanding Sri Aurobindo and I don't think you have read it or appreciate its import fully. That alters the whole picture and later texts pale in significance

First lesson is to read about Varuna and find correspondences with Maheshwari in "The Mother" book. Thanks to Sri Aurobindo, one can read the Veda in English without any reliance on the Sanskrit texts. His translations and explanations are equally Mantric. https://t.co/pNGpbVz03C

It boils down to removing all other pictures from your profile header except Sri Aurobindo's but I know you can't; that would be too painful and senseless for you. However, I'm lucky not to harbour allegiance to multiple people and that's what I tweet variously from time to time.

Rig-Veda and Zend-Avesta https://t.co/sXxnSKlkWW via @IPC

Some of my previously announced planned articles and publications set for release in late June or July have been postponed. The big one, of course, is the Lingua-U Sutra. Although I have had a... https://t.co/KK5sp6yFPO

59. M.N. Roy had complained, as we saw, that the most outstanding feature of the Indian national movement has been its lack of theoretical foundation.
60. Some twelve years later, Nehru found the same lack.

149. If two words are required to indicate the direction in which Indian polity should move, they are, he says, de-centralisation, and self-reliance.
151. This excessive veneration for centralizing every social and economic function in one authority can produce only disorder, for it will be against life itself.

46. This is even chronologically not correct. For Hindu nationalism was being advocated by Tilak & the earlier Aurobindo  for at least two decades earlier.
47. Its philosophical and emotional foundations had already been laid by very many people by the end of the 19th century.

Monier Monier-Williams was the second Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University. He studied, documented & taught Asian languages, such as Sanskrit and Persian. He argued that the Advaita Vedanta system best represented the Vedic ideal & was the "highest way to salvation". https://t.co/tmXNDXqD4p

From Balu's research group
Note that Prof @aryalegal has also written a lot about caste and law at https://t.co/HMqXVtmd4A https://t.co/eI3RIuAxZX

In his poetry, Elia points out that the enmity between religious people and communists is not innate but a later invention of elites to discredit Marxist ideas. https://t.co/0UvYUfeLhW

Sometimes people who really want to grasp post-postmodernism for whatever reason just seem incapable of doing so. That's all right. That's to be expected. I sympathize with their intellectual curiosity and I wish it were... https://t.co/7a8DaIFnoP
Begin with the tail end of modern philosophy and birth of what came next starting with Kant and Hegel and Schelling and Nietzsche, and pay especially close attention to Hegel’s methodology. Try to understand why it is that his project failed, and how it is picked up again by 20th-to-21st century PPM philosophers in a different and chastened form including most notably Ken Wilber.

Reading Ambedkar’s unpublished writtings. His critic of Hinduism requires deeper introspection. https://t.co/qY5Od8vj3D

Urban Naxals and India’s war of (Intellectual) Independence. Ashish Naredi reviews ⁦@vivekagnihotri⁩ ‘s best seller  #UrbanNaxals https://t.co/IqSVY2J5XS
The war for India’s political independence ended on August 15th 1947. However, the war for mental, intellectual & spiritual Independence of India continues unabated.

Could #meditation on #consciousness have led the แน›แนฃis to insights that remain beyond the pale of our current understanding of the nature of reality? https://t.co/gYPxLv5L7Y

Shakti, the Supreme - Mother Goddess in Hinduism by T S Rukmani https://t.co/RHxp23NhUM

Light on Abhinavagupta's Contribution to the Advaita Shaiva Spiritual Philosophy of Kashmir https://t.co/0vEQdMa7wr #Kashmir @AdiShankaraa @AbhinavAgarwal @shaivamorg

Essentials of JAIN Philosophy https://t.co/shAH3oXHIa @Aashish39516440 @manukumarjain

Buddhist Philosophical Concepts - their relevance in modern times by Dr Kakali Ghosh https://t.co/NJTvBxCxec #Buddhism #buddhabless

Pramod-ji, wouldn't you agree that the "Chessmaster" moves us, all in good time, for a higher purpose? https://t.co/JIZwFh1si3

An essay - introduction to Sri Aurobindo's book (TEXT).
"In spite of the difficulties humanity may be... https://t.co/tF7XFtnfnt

The Influence of the Past on the Development of the Future https://t.co/Jwq9HfgELi

Marketime: Golwalkar’s argument of Hindutva is fallacious https://t.co/NvdOZkFIjQ @NathTusar @Janamejayan @pranasutra
This mire must harbour the orchid and the rose,
From her blind unwilling substance must emerge
A beauty that belongs to happier spheres.
- Sri Aurobindo (SAVITRI)

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Golwalkar’s argument of Hindutva is fallacious

Your attempt to include consciousness in physics is laudable. However if it is in conflict with well-established physics, personally, I would be very hesitant, not that such attempts should be put down.
Best Regards. kashyap

We are taught in science  to be flexible about all ideas.  We do not believe in something only because it is written in books! The whole formalism of modern physics, Born rule, superposition etc. have been checked by experiments hundreds of times. Please read a book on modern physics when you have time.

About consciousness you have a point. Science has not succeeded as yet to produce a believable model of consciousness. That is why I am willing to patiently hear ideas floated around by Rishis thousands of years back. I would not be so patient if they said something in contradiction with firmly established ideas of modern physics about matter. As I have remarked in my article, on philosophical level, ideas of eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism are astonishingly close to modern physics. But we should be willing to let scientists try different ideas on consciousness. That is the scientific spirit. Do not reject a hypothesis before verifying its consequences!
Hopefully, these arguments will be satisfactory to you.
Best Regards. kashyap

Classical mass is taken as a given property in all QM equations. No questions asked!! All eigenstates are supposed to have same masses. Energies are usually different but the mass (more precisely rest mass in relativity) is fixed. There is a relativistic relation E^2=c^2*P^2 + M(0)^2*c^4 which is always used, E=energy, P=momentum, M(0) is the rest mass measured in particle’s rest frame. M(0) is usually called mass and is given in tables. Superposed states can have different energies, not different masses. Currently, mass is a specific property of a particle and particles are identified and tabulated as having specific masses. Mass is measured by motion in electric and magnetic fields. There is no quantum mechanical measurement of mass.

The story of bare mass is somewhat subtle. Bare mass is usually infinite and it is pretty much theoretical concept since we cannot observe an electron without its electric field. One way to visualize is , as Avtar  also pointed out, is that electrostatic energy e^2/r becomes infinite for r = 0. All these factors are supposed to give infinite answers in calculations before renormalization. Renormalization is adjusted to give measured mass given in tables! Currently we cannot calculate masses.

The story of Higgs field is even more subtle. It is believed that all particle leptons ( particles in the class of electrons) and quarks had zero mass M(0)  to start with even after they acquired charges. Interaction with Higgs field gave rise to different masses. Why, is still an unanswered question!  Photon remained as zero mass particle.

I trust this will finally clarify puzzle of masses. As I said there is a guaranteed Nobel prize if someone can calculate masses of elementary particles!
Best Regards. Kashyap
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Remembering Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, the man who gave us ...

India Today-27-Jun-2018
Vande Mataram has been India's national song since 1937. Sung by generations of Indians to evoke the motherland, the song was written by Bengali writer ...

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose: Feared Even in Captivity by Santanu ...

Free Press Journal-23-Jun-2018
Interestingly, the book points out, “After Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Sri Aurobindo, and Lal Lajpat Rai, only Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose remained truly Indian ...

Bhubaneswar schools impart organic farming education

Daily Pioneer-25-Jun-2018
Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre, Khandagiri, seeks to spread awareness on the importance of growing and consuming safe and healthy food among the ...

Assorted tweets for general information:

Indians still want a paternalistic state. Indians distrust private enterprise. @AKanisetti elaborates on the findings of recent surveys: https://t.co/DwEdNXva1e

Why is liberalism failing? A new book asking this question sidelines key causes and concerns https://t.co/a8ifwr2Pod https://t.co/SQFDoI1X21

How history was morphed to glorify Manmohan Singh as the sole architect of 1991 reforms while painting P V Narasimha Rao as a reluctant, indecisive and often communal Brahman.
When India’s history is truly written, without any influence, the role of PVNR will be right up there, above Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. He literally walked into a disaster in the making, as India was on the brink of an economic catastrophe.  https://t.co/AXANwVC4Wq

@TrulyDesi_Me it is another myth perpetuated by secular frauds. A Canadian monk Ishwar Saran has written an explosive book "The Myth of St Thomas of Mylapore". Please do read. If you can't find the book ask me for a copy  https://t.co/aIAlsR22DQ

Final replug of my guftagoo with @anuraag_saxena & @jsaideepak where we solve all the major problems ailing the RW today. https://t.co/mlV6ErHg9H

Nietzsche's writing style — aphoristic, polemical, funny, scathing — grew out of a belief that readers want to be provoked, amused, and annoyed. https://t.co/22MHvL8Cvo

On the  Kabir Jayanti politicization of Kabir:
Re up: Your Kabir and mine https://t.co/xrQc3RJKWv via @IndianExpress

RSS’ aversion to media lends it a sense of mystery but also makes it vulnerable to calumny. Ratan Sharda’s book on the Sangh is an attempt to remedy this, and is worth the time if you want to know the real RSS. https://t.co/fg7x194F1c

Primacy of languages should be recognised and States of India must get Sovereignty by abolishing the Central Govt. #SriAurobindo spoke of #WorldUnion and a Confederation of South Asian States will be catalyst. Modi can be an instrument of Evolutionary forces to turn a Gorbachev.
It's for the local people to defend themselves by forging suitable alliances. Such bulwark will grow organically. Besides, there is no need to paint a dismal image of China; it's also bound by many international restrictions and commitments. Sri Aurobindo has foreseen Federation.
I confess that my articulations are more philosophical than conforming to geopolitical apprehensions. But I stick to it based on my intense attraction for Odia and Sri Aurobindo's forecasts. Creation of Bangladesh and disintegration of USSR remain examples of China's irrelevance.

UPA govt was under the grip of foreign powers and Modi govt is yet to give clear signals of having a mind of its own or moving with its own strength. Yet, it needs a second term to stand on its own feet and also rid the party of the pernicious legacies of Savarkar and Golwalkar.

Lending support to Modi govt is the best possible course right now in order to oppose Congress as well as RSS. Hindutva commands a poor share of electoral dividends and hence is bound to be jettisoned. Nehruvian consensus similarly needs to be replaced by #SriAurobindo's "Dreams"

Modi govt must be distinguished from BJP, RSS, or even Modi himself. Apart from overseas lobbies, domestic top industrialists are part of decision making. So it pursues status quo with a few surprises. But overall full marks for Democratic environment and freedom for all sections.

People and not territory should be the focus in the modern world. They must decide under which govt they want to live; imposing grand narratives is counterproductive. What's the use of a large nation if people feel alienated or unhappy; perpetually harbour an inferiority complex?

Thanks for categorically spelling out crucial differences between Golwalkar and Upadhyaya. I haven't read the latter in original but have heard that his formulations are indebted to Sri Aurobindo to some extent. Hope you deal with this aspect in course of the thread. #SriAurobindo https://t.co/XDHQQOmK5T

Scholars like @RajivMessage follow the Dharmic Abrahamic contrast but it leaves out the long and rich tradition of Western philosophy and the great rishis it has produced. Heraclitus, Schelling, Bergson, Whitehead, Deleuze, et al need to be read to fully appreciate #SriAurobindo.

Religion tends to be mechanical and materialistic and hence The Mother & Sri Aurobindo added the Vedic emphasis of transformation by way of adventure of consciousness leading to Immortality. Young Indians must internalise this aim irrespective of present aptitude or enthusiasm.

Many valuable information are shared but it's difficult to retrieve them later. There is a need for a site to provide links to books and articles that demolish such fake stories and false claims. For instance, @pranasutra has posted a list of useful books https://t.co/l0lvORkOwK

beware of 'experts'. most of them are compromised by #deepstate, #vatican, #saudi or #xinhua. some are also in the payroll of #bigpharma, #bigfood, etc. here the angle is not commercial gain but the reinstatement of #antonia #maino as empress of india. https://t.co/Q3worYHs2t

เคฌाเคฌा เคฐाเคฎเคฆेเคต เคธंเค˜ เค”เคฐ เคชुँเคœिเคชเคคिเคฏों เค•ा เคฆเคฒाเคฒ เคนै เคธ्เคตเคฆेเคถी เค•े เคจाเคฎ เคชเคฐ เคœเคจเคคा เค•ो เค‡เคฎोเคถเคจเคฒ เคฌ्เคฒेเค•เคฎेเคฒ เค•เคฐ เค…เคชเคจा เค”เคฆ्เคฏोเค—िเค• เคธเคฎ्เคฐाเคœ्เคฏ เค–เคก़ा เค•เคฐ เคฐเคนा เคนै เคญाเคœเคชा เคธเคฐเค•ाเคฐ เค•ी เคฆเคฒाเคฒी เค•เคฐ เคฌाเคฌा UP,MP,เคฎเคนाเคฐाเคท्เคŸ्เคฐ เคธเคนिเคค เค•เคˆ เคฐाเคœ्เคฏों เคฎें เค•เคฐोเคก़ों เค…เคฐเคฌों เค•ी เคœเคฎीเคจ เค•ौเคกिเคฏों เค•े เคญाเคต เค…เคตैเคง เคฐूเคช เคธे เคนเคฅिเคฏा เคฐเคนा เคนै!

The tradition of dissent must be celebrated because it allows us to see an imagined future, an alternate vision or the possibility of the dissenting opinion being resurrected on a future day.
@SatyaPrasoon on Justice Chelameswar as the dissenter: https://t.co/ylGTeKIu7x https://t.co/loVn4NnC4U

The Price of Feminism. It neglects duty and commitment.  https://t.co/uWl3JO6zhv

The recent false representation of the status women in India notwithstanding, Indians still need to look at how women were put on a pedestal, performing multiple duties and were not treated like commodities as they are in this sense-driven modern world. https://t.co/0tf0nyPDnb

Today is the Jayanti of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee the man who composed Vande Mataram, one of the greatest Indian writers of the modern era, noted for his strong female characters, and inspired the Bengali Renaissance. https://t.co/nN2Yv1mVCy

282a. Although Madhav Golwalkar’s perceptions, forming the ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, were clear and unwavering, and many of his propositions indisputable, they suffer from several infirmities, at least three of them touched also with profound irony. 1/n
282b, (1)  Golwalkar attributes to the introduction of Western isms into Indian polity its present disorder. But, despite his opposition to building India’s future on the foundations of Western political thought, 2/n
282c. the core of his own teachings in that regard lies in those very foundations, the concept of ‘nation’, with ‘nationalism’ as its derivative, providing their two most decisive ingredients. n/n
283a. But ‘nation’ and ‘nationalism’ form no part whatever of the traditional Dhaarmic thought, any more than that they do of Christianity and Islam. The idea of ‘nation’ itself as a self defining principle, 1/n

289. (iv) Rejecting the possessive individualism of liberalism and democracy, Golwalkar ascribes to ‘nation’ an individuality that is far more possessive, and infinitely more dangerous. 1/n
292. (v). Golwalkar’s glorification of nation comes from the teachings, not of Dhaarmic thinkers, but those of Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744-1803), with whom begins the German romantic movement. 1/n
301.  It is only that at no time in its very long history had Dharmic civilisation made even remotely any such claim. It is a Semitic, not Dhaarmic, idea. n/n
302. (3) A suggestion of this variety, that the Hindus are chosen by Destiny for a unique world mission, produces the false notion of their innate superiority over others.  (This is purely Abrahamic concept, extremely adharmic.) 1/n
303. Not only does this misrepresent grievously the character of classical Dhaarmic thought, which does not even know the word ‘Hindu’, but must also lead to profound untruth about other traditions of the world. 2/n
309. a). In actual fact the logical structure of Golwalkar’s argument, the argument of Hindutva, is simply fallacious. He begins by concluding that India has been a ‘Hindu’ land, 1/n

Hinduism is inclusive, Hindutva is exclusive: Speaking Tree By Ashok Vohra Hinduism, while keeping itself pegged to the Vedas, is a poignant and dynamic religion that adapts itself to the changing social, cultural, economic, scientific and technological… https://t.co/8h1FHjAGj9 https://t.co/ZJ6AncH033

The Supportive Force of the Idea of the Religion of Humanity for the Realization of a World-State https://t.co/HUCsHhe8wU

Dr. Georg Feuerstein (1947 – 2012) was a German Indologist specializing in the philosophy of Yoga. He authored over 30 books on Yoga, Tantra, & Hinduism. His "The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy and Practice" is one of the most comprehensive books on Yoga. https://t.co/bq2av5atiH

Great article on the languages and scripts of India by @SVOjha.
Concluding with recounting a charming graffiti "Sutanuka, the Devadasi! Sutanuka, the Devadasi! I, Devadina, artist from Varanasi, love her!" :) https://t.co/XlKcClNgep

In the Rasa theory of Abhinavagupta, at the centre of the wheel is the infinite potential for realizing all possible Rasas. This pure potential is termed as ลšฤnta (translated as peace).
So Shiva in India is depicted in ลšฤnta (meditative) nature, similar to Buddha in Buddhism.

The temple chariot consists of 24 wheels with a diameter of 9 feet & 9 inches. 8 main spokes along with 8 minor spokes and function as sundials. Spokes have carvings that depict deities, dancers, animals with no 2 spokes having identical presentations.  https://t.co/6d0DQBFDAV

Marketime: Sri Aurobindo is being stoutly opposed by agents of tradition https://t.co/PFR0hIeyVH @NathTusar
This mire must harbour the orchid and the rose,
From her blind unwilling substance must emerge
A beauty that belongs to happier spheres.
- Sri Aurobindo ("SAVITRI")

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Sri Aurobindo is being stoutly opposed by agents of tradition

A National Agenda For Education
A Nath - SummerHill, 2018
… of India, and UGc and his close association with Sri Aurobindo International Institute for. Educational Research as its founder. pdf. Published. 2018-06-15. How to Cite. NATH, Amar. A National Agenda For Education. SummerHill, [Sl], v. 6, n. 2, p. 21-26, june 2018 …

1 The Self
UI after Independence - African Freedom: How Africa Responded to …, 2018
… As a Page 55. 42 The Self counterpoint to Kipling's culturally divided self, Nandy discusses the life of Sri Aurobindo, who was torn between his European childhood and an exaggerated embrace of Indian spirituality as an adult …

On the meaning of hymns to Maruts in Rigveda
D Semenov
… ways, The yet hymns many of passages R.gveda are were still and obscure. are interpreted Even when in variety received of interpretations yield bring some clarity to the text they do not reveal Aurobindo, the light of knowledge attributed to R.gveda …

[PDF] Was Madras Benighted?: The British Beauracratic control over the Swadeshi Press and Political Literature in the Madras Presidency, 1908-1912
V VENKATRAMAN
… Kanyall Dutt, Hemachandra Dass, Bhupendra Nath Dutt, Bipin Chandra, Syamji Krishna Varma, Aurobindo Ghose and other great persons. The leaflet, which suggested the establishment of “Swaraj in India”, also hinted …

You are cordially invited

Veda
Sourabha 2018

In commemoration of the celebration of Birth Centenary ofSri M P Pandit, 140th Year of Sri Vasishtha Ganapati Muni, 80th Year of Dr. R L Kashyap
1st July 2018, Sunday
10:00 AM to 02:00 PM
Kuvempu Kalakshetra
KIMS Hospital Premises, Krishna Rajendra Road,
V V Puram Bengaluru - 560004

Just received #HinduTerror by RVS Mani published by @Vitastapublish. Thank you @IndicAcademy for the book. Can't wait to read it. @renuvitasta https://t.co/fKDCt4SXdq

#UrbanNaxals #BookTour in #London on the 19th of July 2018! Everyone's invited. @vivekagnihotri @IndicAcademy @IndicBookClub @agrawalgautam15 @i_ambuddha @GarudaPrakashan https://t.co/jHhTl8DzQC

Constitution of #India and Rights of Equality & Backward Classes https://t.co/s7gYjjuwu5 #backwardclasses #castesystem

How Emergency provided the template for the mobilisation of Hindutva forces https://t.co/o2qRqqQmjX

“Intellectual wars of narratives can be won only with intellectual counter-strategy”: @vivekagnihotri : https://t.co/Jr1ATOZCwt via @eorganiser

Just bought the Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli’s latest book to begin preparing for a paper I’ll deliver at a conference about philosophies of time at the University of L’Aquila next April. Spoiler alert: like most physicists, he argues our experience of time is an illusion. https://t.co/Ejg83Z9fpN
I should say I’ve only just started reading. He devotes the last chapter of the book to trying to reconcile our perceptions with physics, which is at least better than Einstein’s dismissal of lived time as “a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

How we proved that Einstein’s theory of general relativity holds true even beyond the solar system https://t.co/LCpl68oZyx https://t.co/iD0R0NJG0i

Tagore was a remarkably modern and scientific man. His conversation with Einstein is a gem, in which Einstein admits being more religious than him. https://t.co/1KK3K9PWMf

The Tagore–Gandhi Debate on the Bihar Earthquake. A magisterial essay by @MakrandParanspe, very profound in parts, but one whose thesis I beg to disagree with.
In my opinion, Prof Paranjape cushions what to me, is Gandhi's SIN. Do read. It is brilliant. https://t.co/2oHvcZkbjm

Well it’s a debate between a conservative (Gandhi) and a 19th century liberal. Today of course we feel closer to the liberal. But Gandhi is closer to the old Hindu India. Superstitiousness is v much a part of old Hindu India.

A biography of the Tamil language reveals its influence on Sanskrit and Hebrew https://t.co/4Ld45AHStB via @qzindia

#ICYMI | Assam’s complex social mosaic is at a crossroads with increasing ethnic tensions and alienation among various communities. The tea tribes form a distinct population of Assam and are demanding Scheduled Tribe status from the state.

Replug | “It’s not our job to assimilate, it’s your duty to accept us as we are.” Sanjana Pegu on the many forms of discrimination faced by North Easterners. https://t.co/X4NjtsE0yE

"Income tax is a terror." https://t.co/A0qovCAKhU @Swamy39-ji at his pugnacious & pugilistic best. He's against GST too!

Excellent article on the gymnastics played by the self certified centrists, independent, non partisan jokers who are simply bullshitters! https://t.co/K2KE8oo1fw

Excellent insightful article on what qualifies as a financial bubble & without being preachy it offers what can you do to make the max out of the bubble. Identifies Tesla, Crypto currency, tech sector as bubbles now. https://t.co/qjl19Q6jZK

This is Manas Chakravarty’s best piece. LT @qfint  https://t.co/XPCeuDapdl
Economics is a dismal science but not without humor https://t.co/0x0bNESfcq

The fear of food?: Santosh Desai If there is one fundamental change that has occurred over a single generation, it is in our attitude towards food. We now think of food as the presumed enemy, and every morsel that we put into our mouths must have its antecedents verified. In a single generation, food has gone from unconditional friend to suspicious stranger, always out to thicken our arteries, weaken our immune system and contaminate our bodies in general. via TOI Blog The post The fear… https://t.co/04uV4DrSCB https://t.co/zjdQu7cfew

Why low-carbohydrate high-fat diets help some diabetics reverse the condition without medication https://t.co/FuyOddZwNR https://t.co/KbjqtQPs6o
“If diabetes is a lifestyle disorder, I was going to put my life back in order.”


Sheltering a wandering mind: Why India needs more daycares for people with dementia https://t.co/fYwqmQxTz6

wandering could be due to four reasons - following an old pattern (like going to office), not being able to find something, boredom, or walking in circles without any reason. 


Our most reliable national habit is talking, it should be walking instead: Chidanand Rajghatta Efforts on the part of India’s sports minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, cricketing icon Virat Kohli, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others to inculcate… https://t.co/d58mvdooUB https://t.co/F3jPFM7UX1


Right’s respectable and liberal’s a dirty word in India’s new lexicon: Aakar Patel One of the drawbacks of being a columnist as opposed to being a ‘news anger’ (a delightful term someone else coined and I am appropriating) is that one is not a celebrity.… https://t.co/PkPX1AelPd https://t.co/YSeb4hcxOP

The Indian liberal – torn between secularism and stock market: Jug Suraiya Indian liberals – those who espouse the virtues of social and economic egalitarianism – have long endured a split personality. Or, more aptly, a split conscience. Urged by the… https://t.co/nksclZXF53 https://t.co/BqKpkkzTAt

The received wisdom among religion scholars & Indologists worldwide is that "India is a secular state" (which moreover  is "threatened by the BJP"). Laughable, the opposite of the truth. Take the minorities' privileges in education:  https://t.co/tRapJcVtUd

#Sathya Sai Controversies and the Art of Guru Bashing https://t.co/oMd70e8mfh #alayarahm #antisaimovement

Is jiva a creation of Vishnu? Are they different from Vishnu? While they appear different, are they equal to one another? https://t.co/syBiCtuu31 #Hinduism #dharma

#ColonialConsciousness Non Semitic Indians are not people of book and as such we follow traditions of our ancestors.
Colonials identified some books as guiding our "moral compass" and we have also taken on their language in identifying where and how our traditions originiated https://t.co/3fD4Pq6i9F

The middle ground in philosophy of science https://t.co/jkJiPimFnc

While the Church paints jesus as a Hindu god & cleverly gains acceptance in our homeland, these fools call intelligent approaches of these yogis to teach only the most universal aspects of Hinduism 1st, to be a "distortion". /2
They would rather go extinct than provide any room to flexibility. Any pro H zeal is bound to create counter movements in abrahamic religions in west. Eg. Mahesh Yogi's TM was subverted by church with "Centering Prayer" which is just repackaging of TM with a Christian mantra /3
Core issue lies here: For us (atleast me) Hinduism is frankly not primary. I love Hinduism cz of elements like yoga and not just cz I was born into a Hindu family. For them, Hinduism is primary simply bcz they were born into it./4
These trads live in their holes. They were critical of SV when he went to West, while doing nothing themselves. Their value is limited to preserving things, not realizing them.
What works is evident. 2day westerners hv slowly started accepting bhakti & other soft aspects too /5
I won't say they r more accepting then us. I hv interacted with them. They can be extremely insensitive on an average.
With large majority of Indians, issue is lack of exposure+ education.
That said: these trads are simply not subjectively conscious enough.

Great thread and discussion _/\_ one thing must be kept in view,that sv was preaching Hinduism and sowing the first seeds of hindu missionary zeal back at a time when modern liberal west was not so liberal,rather a bastion of Orthodox  xtianity.
And even if I keep the issue of all this missionary or conversion factor aside,praising Christ should be a natural expression in any person who loves the beauty of humanity,just like the west has been greatly influenced by iskcon and Buddhist meditative traditions.

Perhaps, you misunderstood. This is what the great yogacarya, the guru of Pattabhi Jois & BKS Iyengar, said in his 1934 book. Foreigners, indeed, may have done more to promote & practice yoga than Indians, at least physical part of it, but some have denied its Indian roots. https://t.co/G7QzllPV16

The Max Muller Syndrome: Deceiving #Hindus (Part 2) https://t.co/bye7HMAIDo #antihindus #antihindu

Bhupen Hazarika’s songs in Odia https://t.co/mBBu1bRmMb https://t.co/IsOu013Kor

Admission to Ashram was on selective basis and some were directed to other gurus. Btw, my paper deals with individual destiny/choice. https://t.co/YGoEhdLyp7 #SriAurobindo

Sri Aurobindo synthesizing Hegel, Nietzsche, Bergson, James, etc with a Judeo-Vedic Evolutionary paradigm should be considered pioneering. Of course, one has to step outside University offerings to discover such gems. Besides philosophy, his "Savitri" is a marvel. #SriAurobindo

Who's your favorite meta-philosopher, the one whose philosophizing about philosophy seems most on target to you? I think mine is Whitehead. The opening sections of Process and Reality are metaphilosophical gold.

Hitler and His God: The Background to the Nazi Phenomenon by Georges van Vrekhem is essential reading in this context which documents how intensely #SriAurobindo was involved in the whole exercise from the "tranquility" of his Ashram in Puducherry. https://t.co/niQNLfkLq4

Critical Posthumanism and Planetary Futures (Editors: Banerji, Debashish, Paranjape, Makarand R.) incorporating insights from Sri Aurobindo can be illuminating in this context. A number of Banerji's YouTube videos are also available. #SriAurobindo

[As described by Sri Aurobindo, the ultimate aim of existence is the Divinization of Matter. This is already referred to (as "the light of Adam Kadmon") in Lurianic Kabbalah (as Tikkun Olam) and by the Tamil Siddha Swami Ramalingam.] #SriAurobindo https://t.co/VmA2i12bnM

At the core of Sri Aurobindo's teaching is his line that Matter shall reveal the Spirit's face. So physical manifestation is the goal and intensity of aspiration on our part is the route. Hence no laxity in fighting obstacles; no indolent waiting. Arya literally means a fighter.

I think, you missed my point. In our path, both Krishna and Sri Aurobindo matter less. It's The Mother who reigns. This integration of Tantra and Vedanta is said to be the greatest contribution of Sri Aurobindo in the history of Indian wisdom. Suits prevailing gender sensitivity!

Spiral Evolution also means that progress is not continuous as civilisational downturns recur as encapsulated in the Vedic allusion to cows (light) stolen and their subsequent release by Divine intervention (or later day Avatar conceptualised in the Puranas & Gita). #SriAurobindo

Bhakti is almost absent in major Upanishads and therefore Gita was an innovation. But its thrust on surrender is different from what #SriAurobindo recommends. The Mother aspect becomes most potent upon Vedantic substratum. I sympathise with your love for Krishna but it's obsolete

You know it but just for the sake of thread: All life is Yoga signifies harnessing one's current capabilities, weaknesses notwithstanding. Traditional yoga defers everything till one's Realisation but Integral Yoga relies upon ongoing evolution. There is nothing like undeserving.

Those who pretend that there is no difference between Sri Aurobindo and Vivekananda or they can be harmonised are deluding themselves and others. Looking at Sri Aurobindo through the Hindu lens similarly is height of distortion. Accepting uniqueness of #SriAurobindo needs courage
Thanks for agreeing and that's really bold and daring for a Bengali. The day people in Bengal come out of hero worshipping Tagore, Subhas, and Vivekananda and recognise the significance of Sri Aurobindo's "escape" to Puducherry, it will be a new revolution and Evolutionary leap.
Tagore modelling Sandip in Ghore Baire broadly on Sri Aurobindo is the reason why the prejudice continues with some help from Leftist writers. Further, Sri Aurobindo is hardly considered as a Bengali since he wrote in English. So it's a Himalayan range of resistance against him!

The academic approach is to collect all past resources and it's a colossal labour. Sri Aurobindo's works on the other hand forms an efficient filter as well as a fine source of distilled wisdom. Whether one believes in what he says is secondary; being aware of his views is a must

Every word of Gita is of Vedic origin, yet even learned persons continue to ignore the Veda which is relegated to chanting or rituals. Sri Aurobindo inaugurated a new lease of life for the Veda which is being stoutly opposed by agents of tradition. It's a political battle for us.

At every step, Sri Aurobindo comes up with a critique of tradition or popular opinion. Be it history, politics, religion, or the Veda. Leftists avoided him and Hindutva votaries do the same now. Thus, a genuine critical tradition of scholarship has failed to develop in India.

Sentiments vary. One's opinion as Hindu or Muslim may clash with the Nationalist point of view. And, both positions can be at odds with Democratic principles. So, deciding what one espouses is important. Yes, there is that fourth level, the Market; all the three can put a spanner

Sri Aurobindo on The Ascent of Life in the evolutionary schemata https://t.co/hWoV2bp0kV

The Development of a Uniting Sentiment and Psychological Unity Helps Form Larger Societal Aggregates https://t.co/ddteYPawbA

Marketime: What is true indology? https://t.co/j81QmAddvE @NathTusar @GhorAngirasa @ArpanAgarwal3 @TIKU321 @Auro_Mere
This mire must harbour the orchid and the rose,
From her blind unwilling substance must emerge
A beauty that belongs to happier spheres.
#SriAurobindo ("SAVITRI")

Sunday, June 24, 2018

What is true indology?

Daily Pioneer-21 hours ago
The Yoga as conceptualised in India when the civilisation dawned on the eastern horizon is no exception. Sri Aurobindo writes, “The child of immemorial ages, ...
Generally what happens to one who is seriously initiated into Yoga is that it presents in him the enormous complexity of his nature, something which at the same time stimulates and embarrasses him with the multiplicity of his personality, myriad personalities dragging him powerfully into different directions. Things which lurk undetected-a colossal vastness living behind the veil- spring up into the surface. It is a stupendous challenge placed in the way of yogic development by the universal nature which does not yield an inch without the Yogi transforming himself completely in the new yogic consciousness.  As one progresses in the path of Yoga one discovers to his utter despair that every part of his being, be it intellect, sense mind, desire self, heart, body, has all its natural formation, living independently of the rest. They do not concord and they fiercely resist every attempt made to bring them into a harmony around a deeper self which the Yoga helps to emerge out of the veil of the surface personality which dominates him till the flower of the soul starts opening up, petal by petal.

Assorted tweets for general information:

Oh, just to clarify, I have read Secret of the Veda & found it a genuine, sincere & interesting book. I am not sure if this has come off clearly elsewhere but I do not treat aurobindo on the same plane as dayAnanda of AryasamAja or vivekAnanda. ++
It has several insights, sure. Just that it cannot be taken as a "scripture" in its own right. That is, it does not have independent value as an "authority". Now, we DO have an abundance of textual treasures which are "fit" to be authorities.++
If it contradicts, it must be reinterpreted & if impossible to do that, it must be dismissed as a special case of an otherwise sincere thinker's misunderstanding. Same logic applies to others I mentioned (AryasamAj/vivekAnanda)...Just that I don't esteem their approach highly.
I am no scholar, just a typical Hindu deeply committed to preserving the treasures traditional sampradAya-s have to offer, & their esteem & status. Anyway, it was meant to be a rather generic/minor point that both of them could not resist superimposing abrahamic constructs on their reading of dharma or the urge to conform to certain Western expectations. I.e "Superstitious to interpret vedic texts in terms of rituals; so, interpret them in the light of science/technology", or "polytheism is demeaning, monotheism is original religion of veda"

I didn't mean it in any derogatory way sir..
My limited point is that there have been new insights offered by Sri Aurobindo in matters of Vedic Interpretation (especially Samhita portion) & much progress has been made in providing a coherent picture of the Vedic corpus by scholars such as Kapali Sastriar and R.L Kashyap (https://t.co/fne2QAl564). To dismiss them summarily b/c they apparently don't respect tradition doesn't seem to be the sincere thing to do..
BTW thank you for the informative thread :)

SA (and every other luminary) accepts such evolution anyway. 
The point of contention was post-puranic evolution. SA himself criticizes this tendency to stagnate at Shankar in case of Adwait eg. He says, we r separated from Shankar by centuries while Shankar was seperated from Vedas by many millenia, in that sense, Shankar is himself modern.

Dayanand was an acclaimed vedic scholar and a scholar(like urself) might perceive his scholarship more profound than SA. But why Vivekanand ? He produced no scholarly work comparable to SA (They might be compared on basis of yogic attainment, but i don't think u meant that) PS: this wasn't to demean SV. Sri Aurobindo himself held SV in highest regard, but not for scholarship.

Oh boy, you are too complicated for them.
Read what nonsense they spew in name of "Civilizational perspective" to defend every evil and regression. Targigrade is a great exponent of it.
In the end the question is:if everything good&liberal is to be traded away to "win" the war /1
Then what are they fighting for ?
It's like selling one's children to build a nice house. /2
Well u r spot on. Some who were extremely aggressive in my interactions with them and hv actually joined a trad sampradaya admit that they were debauchees in college. It's a "return to our roots" phase for them. Some will hopefully grow out of it.

Well sir mostly these anon folks never care to actually implement their own views in their https://t.co/JwfjFsIxkq reality,the more regressive an online hindutva Vadi is,chances are that he/she leads a more liberal real life in some lib nation of the west or some metro city :)
U are absolutely spot on Sir. _/\_ taking a high traditionalist stance feels so liberating online :) in reality, as per my understanding, nontrad saints known to our nation like kabir dev, tukaram or the nath tradition yogis of dattatreya lineage are our true civilizational gems.
problem with any form of strict adherence to shastra is that,it will sooner or later contradict with the fundamental principle of evolution of soul/nature.whole of creation is constantly evolving,nothing is stagnant,not even the primordial bigbang with which everything began.
https://twitter.com/TIKU321/status/1010798311060561920?s=19
Adherence to absolute truth in speech,action and thought is tough as hell for us in this age. yet if we can do that,as rk paramhamsa said,slowly the inner 5 koshas and the 5 tattvas will be purified in us.eventually it will lead to total liberation.

His views on Swamigal and Sri Aurobindo are of a parochial nature.. He seems to be of the opinion that there cannot be any new revelations in matters of religion.. I think that is the case with most "trads"..

If that was how ancient Rishis perceived religion, we would still be dancing around a Tree god.
I asked him about SA. He said he has read Secret of the Veda and admires SA's intent but he prefers going to the original meaning and content of shrutis.
Most trads seem rather mute on SA and Raman Maharshi as they cannot be dismissed as neo-blah blah or "babas" and yet do not endorse their entrenched positions on rituals and texts. 
Dunno what's TI's view on this is though.
I also didn't get to read it either. But it was about defining yoga as seperation of Purush and Prakriti which an Art of Living teacher called out.
TI then posted a link to an extract of Life Divine to prove his point(which wasn't actually proving his point) /1
His link was:
I posted this comment on it, to which he didn't reply:
Then he wrote another tweet saying that he fully respects all traditional acharyas of all traditional sampradayas and is only calling out neo-babas etc.(His original argument was against babas dissociating Yoga from Hinduism).
I asked:
Not asking malafide. Just curious: You mentioned Sri Aurobindo to back your view. But he too is far from traditional. Infact he was quite opposed to Sayana's ritualistic and literal approach to the Vedas(disregarding their deeper yogic truths) while the trads rever Sayana.Ur view ?
Btw, he was deeply respected by extremely learned trads like Ganpati Muni and Kapali Shastri who even became his disciple.
Also, Raman Maharshi too was not a trad at all. He had no interest in rituals & very little in texts. But the above mentioned trads bowed to him. Ur view ?

Arpan Ji I would say I have formed my opinion over a long period of time and I think certain people have narcissistic tendencies. People like me when we don't know something we are eager to learn from someone who knows and without any inhibitions we do so then there r others.+
Reluctance to accept that 1 might not necessarily be an expert in all fields related to Hinduism is also part of his attitude which I dislike.Deleting tweets according 2 me shows his fear dat others will start gaining "followers"& his position as d know it all will be diminished
The so-called Traditionalist I am talking about obviously hates Savarkar. But it does not end with him they dislike Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Dayanand Saraswati and everyone else from the Hindu side of that particular Era. Also acc to them Avaidik Hindus are not Hindus.

The Emergency Revisited – Part-I (3-Part Series) - The Circumstances Leading to the Imposition of Emergency https://t.co/AzG3EgS9RQ

Recounting this episode is pregnant with possibilities of a genuine meeting of hearts of dominant political formations by abdicating shrill sectarianism, factionalism, and fanaticism. The example of JP forging such a grand alliance then should serve as a template for the future.

Very useful article. I have also found the papers published in this book - Indian Philosophical systems, published by Ramakrishna Mission to be very interesting, as they propound a basic unity of Indian Philosophical systems. https://t.co/e6BMFP0aGs

A thread where I examine the false dichotomy often drawn in academia between the Vedic religion and modern Hinduism
https://t.co/w63cjdb3Yz

Reading #SriAurobindo provides a rich perspective on the secret of the Veda and how to avoid literal and superficial impressions on it. Indispensable for any scholar on Indian wisdom https://t.co/Wkh1jrgnby @thesecretofveda @supremefelicity @SavitriProject @sakshitrust @bennedose

Sri Aurobindo was not merely a revolutionary leader but an astute political theorist. So, politics of today can't ignore his prophesies. He didn't simply wrote commentary on the Gita and Upanishads etc; rather he has transformed the very tenor of religions and nature of practice.

Marketime: Historical law as natural selection of accidents https://t.co/ipUZHv1WsJ @NathTusar @GabbarSanghi @vakibs
This mire must harbour the orchid and the rose,
From her blind unwilling substance must emerge
A beauty that belongs to happier spheres.
#SriAurobindo (SAVITRI)