Tusar Mahapatra on Aspiration

[Debabrata Ghosh]

I was sad to read Sri Tusar Mahapatra's aspersion on Sri Chaki's ideas and norms for and behind creaing a community -Aspiration. You all know it and I think there is nothing wrong in Sri Chaki's idea. But Tusar Mahapatra's slant comment on the preamble of Aspiration shocked me. So I commented on it in Savitri Era. I'm posting here both what Sri Mahapatra wrote and my comment thereon for information of the members of Aspiration and their response.
WHAT SRI MAHAPATRA WROTE

After long contemplation and due deliberation Barindranath Chaki has come out with his version of Three Monkeys. He proposes a hands off approach as to

*
Political parties
*
Religions, and
*
Ashram or Auroville

It will, however, be interesting to watch how far this Lakshman Rekha is not transgressed either in letter or in spirit, and who would decide where does a comment end and criticism begins. With Ashram and Auroville classified as new Sacred Cows, now every word would be under the scanner, and the hermeneutic exercise it engenders has the prospect of an exciting slugfest.
MY COMMENT

Sri Chaki is the best judge as to how he wants to continue with the community he has created unless his writings and activities do not harm any other communities or persons. I think Sri Aurobindo has left many things behind him to think or ponder over than to see how Sri Chaki likes to lead his life and community with good wishes to all.
Devabrata quoted only the writings of Sri Aurobindo in response to one's query on the problem of silencing one's mind.
Tushar Babu -is a follower of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and so he has a forum where different persons write on various aspects of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. It's a good thing and is a platform for those who are interested in the Master. Many outsiders are benefitted to know many things from his forum. I liked also to associate myself with this admirable works. But I left it because of Sri Mahapatra's association with a Tamil politician. It hurts me if anyone turns to be a die-hard enemy of Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville. However I do not like to be drawn to discuss this matter.
What hurts me is Tushar Babu's remarks on Sri Chaki's community.
This is not expected from a man who is doing 'Mother's work'.
Please let us not put our step in muds. We all here in this world find it difficult to surmount our vices and difficulties for the Force and Light to act through us-through Tushar Babu, Barin Babu, Devabrata etc.
Let us aspire and look for higher things. If Barin babu or Tushar babu is wrong in their thoughts -let the LIGHT be allowed to mend them.
With my sincerest good wishes to Tushar Babu and all the members of the forum,
Devabrata

[Barindranath Chaki]

Hello Sri Devabrata Ghosh,

I have gone through what Tusar Mohapatra has written and what Sri Ghosh has written in the discussion.

First of all, I am thanking you for letting us know what Tusar has written and for praying before the Divine for mending my thoughts.

Insofar as my thought is conecerned, I know it is already attuned since decades to the music of the Thought of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Till now, whatever has been expressed by me in any or all of my blogs or websites or anywhere else, is nothing other than what They have told or thought. I have added nothing from my MIND or Ego. And my mind completely is open to Them and faithful and sincere to Them.

The Mother has told that the Their Yoga and Teaching is not a Religion and that religion is a thing of the Past. What right has anybody on earth there to name Their Teaching to be a new Religion, when They say that this is not a Religion?

And then we are here to grow our consciousness in Their path. So, it is not necessary to speak against or for any religion. Of course, we may academically discuss about religion, but NEVER to criticize them or preach for them. This is what has been prescribed by The Mother. Let us see below:

**Auroville and the Religions
We want the Truth.
For most men, it is what they want that they label as truth.
The Aurovillians must want the Truth whatever it may be.
Auroville is for those who want to live a life essentially divine but who renounce all religions whether they be ancient, modern, new or future.
It is only in experience that there can be knowledge of the Truth.
No one ought to speak of the Divine unless he has had experience of the Divine.
Get experience of the Divine, then alone will you have the right to speak of it.
The objective study of religions will be a part of the historical study of the development of human consciousness.
Religions make up part of the history of mankind and it is in this guise that they will be studied at Auroville - not as beliefs to which one ought or ought not to adhere, but as part of a process in the development of human consciousness which should lead man towards his superior realization.

PROGRAMME
Research through experience of the
Supreme Truth
A life divine
but
NO RELIGIONS
Our research will not be a search effected by mystic means. It is in life itself that we wish to find the Divine. And it is through this discovery that life can really be transformed.**
Whatever are Her words for the Aurovillians, those are also meant for the aspirants in Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga.
OOOO

Similarly, The Mother asked the Yogi to be away from politics. If one is mistaken if one says that Sri Aurobindo started his practical life in India with politics and he did politics along with Yoga and He did Yoga in the Jail, hence one should do politics with Yoga or politics as Yoga. Any Tom, Dick or Harry cannot be equal to Sri Aurobindo. Anybody cannot swallow poison and remain immortal like Shiva. Everybody cannot create a Gita while in the battlefield.

Let us see what Mamata Das has said in the Forum, here in Aspiration, in connection with the question of political activities:

**Politics has been strictly forbidden my Mother in the Ashram. Mother has categorically said four things should not be accepted by the Ashramits, means sadhakas. 1)Politics2)Sex 3)Smoking4) Alcohol(?) I do not very well remember the fourth one and now I can not search for it and write here. But about Politics I am sure. Even in Letters on Yoga several times sadhaks had asked Sr. Aurobindo and he had said that Politics lowers the consciousness. So for Sadhakas it is forbidden.

About the sadhaks who had decided to enter in Politics we can never say anything .. if they have got some indication from the Mother, then? If some body who is a devotee of Mother and Sri Aurobindo do something which should not be done ,I never judge , because we do not know the whole thing of some body's life. Who knows? May be he or she has got some order , may be some thing in his or her being should be resolved , which he had not resolved in the past birth. who knows? only Mother knows and the person who is dong politics knows. In Integral Yoga , one has to be whole, so by which means , follwing which path he or she will reach in that Integraliity only Mother knows.

And politics is now possessed by Asuras if some body can try to be in the true path and try to conquer them then he can do that. So it depends...**

Mamata Dash has asked a deep question : Who knows? May be he or she has got some order , may be some thing in his or her being should be resolved , which he had not resolved in the past birth. who knows?

Maybe some follower of Sri Aurobindo may have received some order to bring a political change in India. For that one has to be a Fire, a Whirlwind, and not a mud-slinger. One has to take the people with oneself. If the Force is there, the people will automatically follow him and be with him. One need not start mud-slinging.

A few months back, one Anonymous commented in Savitri Era as follows:

If you tell us that you are indeed conscious of that deeper reality within yourself, and that you are truly inwardly realised and convinced that it is necessary to set up 'systems', create a 'Savitri Era Party', 'save' the Aurobindonian community from impending doom and destruction wrecked by the wretched administrators you seem to conjure - well, sound the bugle, and perhaps we shall be inspired to join you. But at present you hardly come across as one who has the Knowledge or the Call. I can imagine there is much which can be changed for the better, in Auroville, in the Ashram, in India, in the world; but where does that change begin? Nay, Their workings are far more complex, intricate, and mysterious, and "One man's perfection still can save the world…" [Posted by Anonymous to Savitri Era ]

To a great extent, I agreed to what the Anonymous said in his posting and I expressed it then.

Indeed, I am in search one who has such a Force in him or her, behind and above him or her. Indeed, I am in search of some such persons who can rebuild the nation and the World.

OOOOO

If some persons have idea that by creating a new religion or by giving the name of a religion to the Teaching of Sri Aurobindo or by forming a political party in His name, and by criticizing the Ashram or Auroville, one is serving The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, then it is their belief and their way of living. I am least concerned about. I am not going to start campaign against them.

Only, one should be sure of oneself. One should ask : Am I really called by the Divine to this? Have I truly received Her Order for this? Am I really obeying the Divine Force, or acting for the Force of the Asura? Or even, am I opposing the Divine Force?

I believe that, inspite of every failure and fall in the community life of the Ashram or the Auroville [about the failures or falls, I do not have much knowledge, personally], the Force and the Consciousness and the Will of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo are still actively present behind Them. And if one to correct them, go and live there. May be when start a campaign against these two institutions, we may fall in the trap of the Asura, and may invite the Wrath of the Divine against us.

Here is the caution given by Him:

In the hour of God cleanse thy soul of all self-deceit and hypocrisy and vain self-flattering that thou mayst look straight into thy spirit and hear that which summons it. All insincerity of nature, once thy defence against the eye of the Master and the light of the ideal, becomes now a gap in thy armour and invites the blow. Even if thou conquer for the moment, it is the worse for thee, for the blow shall come afterwards and cast thee down in the midst of thy triumph.

Aspiration aims at aspiring for the Divine, calling the Divine. It does not believe in mud-slinging, I say repeatedly. Some one may criticize, but I cannot stoop low and start criticizing him. One should not start finding loopholes in others’ constructions.

And it is not mine alone, it belongs to a group who are its members — who aspire, truly.

Barindranath Chaki
9-9-2008

[Debabrata Ghosh]

Dear Sri Chaki,
I'm not a pedant to prove with proper quotes from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother -that one must learn 'nati' to understand about spiriritual matters. I have read in "Records of Yoga" that Sri Aurobindo had to acquire it as directed by the Supreme. So the very basic attitude should be to be under true humility while commenting on others. I am sad that Sri Mahapatra thinks that others should accept what he thinks and believes.
I fully agree with you and also want that a leader or a party endowed with shakti should evolve to change the face of this suffering nation and the world. But we should not think that we must try to create them. It's simply foolish.
I wonder why some people forget the words of the Mother while founding Auroville that it should not turn to be a religion in future.
However -as we have not been given the power to clear off the evils from this world -so also we can not seek to change the mind of Sri Mahapatra. We have not been given sanction for it by the Divine. Till then we should pray and maintain goodwill.
Devabrata

Barindranath Chaki said:

Hello Sri Devabrata Ghosh,

I have gone through what Tusar Mohapatra has written and what Sri Ghosh has written in the discussion.

First of all, I am thanking you for letting us know what Tusar has written and for praying before the Divine for mending my thoughts.

Insofar as my thought is conecerned, I know it is already attuned since decades to the music of the Thought of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Till now, whatever has been expressed by me in any or all of my blogs or websites or anywhere else, is nothing other than what They have told or thought. I have added nothing from my MIND or Ego. And my mind completely is open to Them and faithful and sincere to Them.

The Mother has told that the Their Yoga and Teaching is not a Religion and that religion is a thing of the Past. What right has anybody on earth there to name Their Teaching to be a new Religion, when They say that this is not a Religion?

And then we are here to grow our consciousness in Their path. So, it is not necessary to speak against or for any religion. Of course, we may academically discuss about religion, but NEVER to criticize them or preach for them. This is what has been prescribed by The Mother. Let us see below:

**Auroville and the Religions
We want the Truth.
For most men, it is what they want that they label as truth.
The Aurovillians must want the Truth whatever it may be.
Auroville is for those who want to live a life essentially divine but who renounce all religions whether they be ancient, modern, new or future.
It is only in experience that there can be knowledge of the Truth.
No one ought to speak of the Divine unless he has had experience of the Divine.
Get experience of the Divine, then alone will you have the right to speak of it.
The objective study of religions will be a part of the historical study of the development of human consciousness.
Religions make up part of the history of mankind and it is in this guise that they will be studied at Auroville - not as beliefs to which one ought or ought not to adhere, but as part of a process in the development of human consciousness which should lead man towards his superior realization.

PROGRAMME
Research through experience of the
Supreme Truth
A life divine
but
NO RELIGIONS
Our research will not be a search effected by mystic means. It is in life itself that we wish to find the Divine. And it is through this discovery that life can really be transformed.**
Whatever are Her words for the Aurovillians, those are also meant for the aspirants in Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga.
OOOO

Similarly, The Mother asked the Yogi to be away from politics. If one is mistaken if one says that Sri Aurobindo started his practical life in India with politics and he did politics along with Yoga and He did Yoga in the Jail, hence one should do politics with Yoga or politics as Yoga. Any Tom, Dick or Harry cannot be equal to Sri Aurobindo. Anybody cannot swallow poison and remain immortal like Shiva. Everybody cannot create a Gita while in the battlefield.

Let us see what Mamata Das has said in the Forum, here in Aspiration, in connection with the question of political activities:

**Politics has been strictly forbidden my Mother in the Ashram. Mother has categorically said four things should not be accepted by the Ashramits, means sadhakas. 1)Politics2)Sex 3)Smoking4) Alcohol(?) I do not very well remember the fourth one and now I can not search for it and write here. But about Politics I am sure. Even in Letters on Yoga several times sadhaks had asked Sr. Aurobindo and he had said that Politics lowers the consciousness. So for Sadhakas it is forbidden.

About the sadhaks who had decided to enter in Politics we can never say anything .. if they have got some indication from the Mother, then? If some body who is a devotee of Mother and Sri Aurobindo do something which should not be done ,I never judge , because we do not know the whole thing of some body's life. Who knows? May be he or she has got some order , may be some thing in his or her being should be resolved , which he had not resolved in the past birth. who knows? only Mother knows and the person who is dong politics knows. In Integral Yoga , one has to be whole, so by which means , follwing which path he or she will reach in that Integraliity only Mother knows.

And politics is now possessed by Asuras if some body can try to be in the true path and try to conquer them then he can do that. So it depends...**

Mamata Dash has asked a deep question : Who knows? May be he or she has got some order , may be some thing in his or her being should be resolved , which he had not resolved in the past birth. who knows?

Maybe some follower of Sri Aurobindo may have received some order to bring a political change in India. For that one has to be a Fire, a Whirlwind, and not a mud-slinger. One has to take the people with oneself. If the Force is there, the people will automatically follow him and be with him. One need not start mud-slinging.

A few months back, one Anonymous commented in Savitri Era as follows:

If you tell us that you are indeed conscious of that deeper reality within yourself, and that you are truly inwardly realised and convinced that it is necessary to set up 'systems', create a 'Savitri Era Party', 'save' the Aurobindonian community from impending doom and destruction wrecked by the wretched administrators you seem to conjure - well, sound the bugle, and perhaps we shall be inspired to join you. But at present you hardly come across as one who has the Knowledge or the Call. I can imagine there is much which can be changed for the better, in Auroville, in the Ashram, in India, in the world; but where does that change begin? Nay, Their workings are far more complex, intricate, and mysterious, and "One man's perfection still can save the world…" [Posted by Anonymous to Savitri Era ]

To a great extent, I agreed to what the Anonymous said in his posting and I expressed it then.

Indeed, I am in search one who has such a Force in him or her, behind and above him or her. Indeed, I am in search of some such persons who can rebuild the nation and the World.

OOOOO

If some persons have idea that by creating a new religion or by giving the name of a religion to the Teaching of Sri Aurobindo or by forming a political party in His name, and by criticizing the Ashram or Auroville, one is serving The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, then it is their belief and their way of living. I am least concerned about. I am not going to start campaign against them.

Only, one should be sure of oneself. One should ask : Am I really called by the Divine to this? Have I truly received Her Order for this? Am I really obeying the Divine Force, or acting for the Force of the Asura? Or even, am I opposing the Divine Force?

I believe that, inspite of every failure and fall in the community life of the Ashram or the Auroville [about the failures or falls, I do not have much knowledge, personally], the Force and the Consciousness and the Will of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo are still actively present behind Them. And if one to correct them, go and live there. May be when start a campaign against these two institutions, we may fall in the trap of the Asura, and may invite the Wrath of the Divine against us.

Here is the caution given by Him:

In the hour of God cleanse thy soul of all self-deceit and hypocrisy and vain self-flattering that thou mayst look straight into thy spirit and hear that which summons it. All insincerity of nature, once thy defence against the eye of the Master and the light of the ideal, becomes now a gap in thy armour and invites the blow. Even if thou conquer for the moment, it is the worse for thee, for the blow shall come afterwards and cast thee down in the midst of thy triumph.

Aspiration aims at aspiring for the Divine, calling the Divine. It does not believe in mud-slinging, I say repeatedly. Some one may criticize, but I cannot stoop low and start criticizing him. One should not start finding loopholes in others’ constructions.

And it is not mine alone, it belongs to a group who are its members — who aspire, truly.

Barindranath Chaki
9-9-2008