Thursday, August 12, 2021

Reinterpreting tradition, questioning every established authority

Three other silent beginnings deserve mention for the scale of their combined impact, all three invoking the ancient idea of the ashram as a space for transformation. The protagonists of these three initiatives, reminiscent of some Vedic rishis, came to be recognized by the world as Gurudev, Mahatma and Maharishi. The period of 1920-21 marks moments of great transformation for all three. Of the three — Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), M.K. Gandhi (1869-1947) and Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950) — the last was the youngest. Born on August 15, 75 years before 1947, he had played a leading role in the fight against British rule during the years after the Bengal Partition, had been charged with sedition and was jailed for a year before he turned his energy towards re-casting various schools of Indian philosophy as a vast challenge to the doctrinaire and orthodox view of god. After moving to Pondicherry, he wrote, with matchless energy, essays reinterpreting tradition, questioning every established authority on the subject and produced an amazing corpus of philosophical work. The essays were first published in his journal, Arya, and later brought together as books— The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, Essays on the Gita, The Secrets of the Veda, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, The Renaissance of India, The Human Cycle and Future Poetry. It was simply breathtaking, as philosophical work goes. In 1920, Sri Aurobindo chose to cease publication of Arya, and all but stopped writing in order to concentrate on his profoundly meditative epic, Savitri. He dedicated the next three decades of his life to bringing on the earth a higher consciousness through his yogic work for the transformation of the human race. Central to the task was a collective life, the ashram at Pondicherry.
G.N. Devy is a literary critic and cultural activist
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Monday, August 09, 2021

We shall cling to Sri Aurobindo

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/ludhiana/sri-aurobindos-birth-anniv-celebrated-294285

Sri Aurobindo College of Commerce and Management organised a seven-day NSS camp on the theme ‘Sri Aurobindo — the divine life’. The camp was organised to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/puducherry/focus-is-on-fast-tracking-perspective-2025/article35778048.ece

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/himachal/aurobindo-yogi-of-modern-india-guv-291691



Most devotees of #TheMother #SriAurobindo used to worship different gods and goddesses at one point but aren´t so particular now. Once one comes under The Mother´s influence, reverence for other gods or gurus evaporates. Looking at her photograph for couple minutes does the trick pic.twitter.com/iLSy2Sr3x9

They will talk about other things but we shall cling to Sri Aurobindo and his #FiveDreams broadcast on August 14, 1947. That´s the manifesto for the future. Each student should read it and realise the true significance of Indian Independence. Not only India but the whole humanity
Savitri Era
@SavitriEra
#SriAurobindo wrote in English and so, Bengalis hardly find any literary connect with him. But they take pride for being conversant with world literature and cinema. Long years of Left ideology has kept a bias for internationalism intact. But the common mass can be told about SA.

They will talk about other things but we shall cling to Sri Aurobindo and his #FiveDreams broadcast on August 14, 1947. That´s the manifesto for the future. Each student should read it and realise the true significance of Indian Independence. Not only India but the whole humanity

There should be no hesitation in telling that #SriAurobindo is the greatest poet and philosopher of India without resorting to any euphemism. This fact has to be brought home to at all levels. Once the old narrative wears away, significance of Sri Aurobindo will come to the fore.

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Friday, August 06, 2021

No artificial divide between spiritual and secular knowledge


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