A collection of articles by various authors to provide a counter to the vicious attack on Sri Aurobindo that came in the form of a distorted biography.
This book is a counter to the vicious attack on Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual stature that came in the form of a hostile biography of him by Peter Heehs entitled The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, published by Columbia University Press in 2008.
Sandeep Joshi runs the website “Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother” at https://auromere.wordpress.com.
The quandary with the latest biography of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs, The Lives of Sri Aurobindo published by the Columbia University Press, is that many times we get caught up in vitanda (which means, it is wrong because you are saying it—and using quotes to justify your side) and kutarka (wrong logic). Every argument is taken up, twisted and compared with some other argument. The rational mind keeps moving between various arguments never knowing where conclusion lies!
Assuming this book was written with honest intent, then there is one fundamental question which must be answered: Is this book useful for spreading the message of Sri Aurobindo?
To me, this is a question, above all, of vibratory power. This book vacillates and comes across as insipid and inconclusive. It doesn’t drive home the argument that, yes, I can improve my life by taking up the Integral Yoga. If this is supposed to be a primary biography written by an Ashram inmate and follower of the Path, then it must be held to a high standard.
(1) Except for the chapter on Major Works, Pondicherry, 1914- 1920, Chapter 7, pp. 264-307, most of the other chapters of the Lives come across like a soap opera, kind of “they met; he felt like this; she said that”—stuff. Even in this chapter there is no scholarly depth or insight expected with such a long association with the writings of Sri Aurobindo.
(2) The constant use of double quotes through the text seems to indicate a lack of grasp of the subject matter. The plain question is: if you are an acclaimed expert, then why not write in your own words?
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(3) The work fails to present the basic theory of Integral Yoga forcefully in a concise manner. Isn’t that is what Sri Aurobindo important for? It miserably fails to state that Sri Aurobindo was doing sadhana for the Earth. All we have are statements here and there like “he came down into the physical; he told someone the tail of the supermind has descended; by their own account, they never lost touch of the higher planes of consciousness.” People might turn aside with a smile if they read some of this gibberish. Shouldn’t the book try to explain what these statements mean in terms of the ancient Scriptures? Why is Sri Aurobindo different from other Sages and Rishis who lived in the past centuries?
(4) The life of a Saint or a Yogi or a Rishi should be judged by the people he affected. Yet, there is little or no information about the major disciples like Nolini, Nirodbaran, Amal Kiran, Pavitra, Amrita, Purani, Dilip Roy, Champaklal, Anilbaran, and many others. How did Sri Aurobindo change the lives of others? I presume, if I’ve to put it from the author’s point of view, this information cannot be included in the biography because these people cannot be regarded as (trustworthy?) primary sources. So there is a basic conflict with the approach of the biographer and the life of the person he seeks to represent.
(5) The epilogue is disappointingly incomplete. No information is given on various centers and institutions which have sprung up and the wide variety of people who embrace the philosophy and continue the work. Again, all we have are some ambiguous statements like the following: “We are now in the second generation after Sri Aurobindo’s passing. His work continues… A superficial look at the organizations he inspired might give the impression that they constitute a movement of the sort he warned against in The Human Cycle. But a deeper look, not at organizational forms but at the practice of individuals, might give a different impression. And in the end any attempt to transform human society must begin with the individuals.” (p. 415) In support of this statement a quotation from Sri Aurobindo follows to close the book. The obvious suggestion is the failure of the Aurobindonian attempt towards the transformation of human society.
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(6) The Mother has been excluded—as if the author has a strong aversion towards her, a psychological barrier in accepting or acknowledging her contributions. Sri Aurobindo exits the stage and we are supposed to move on as if nothing happened after that.
(7) The author has spent 35-40 years in the Ashram Archives. He must know for sure that Vivekananda visited Sri Aurobindo in Alipore jail. Yet here we find this strange statement, “Years later, he wondered whether its source was actually the spirit of Vivekananda.” (p. 178) There is no reference for this statement as far as the primary sources are concerned. Evidently, meticulous scholarship also has its limits, but it is bad when it gets manipulated. On this same page, we also read that Sri Aurobindo heard “all sorts of voices”. He has picked this phrase from a letter written by Sri Aurobindo to a disciple who had a breakdown and come into contact with the intermediate zone of consciousness “where one can be subjected to all sorts of voices”.1 It is not something that he said about himself. These kinds of statements create doubt in the mind of the reader about Sri Aurobindo’s sanity. Actually, what happened after the Nirvana experience with Lele in December 1907 is that Sri Aurobindo heard only the voice of the Divine which spoke at various times and guided him.
(8) A rumour about kidney trouble as the cause of Sri Aurobindo’s illness and death has been included (p. 406). Is this another example of meticulous scholarship? It creates doubt in the mind of the reader that perhaps Sri Aurobindo had kidney trouble all his life, in spite of his assertions to the contrary. It is worthwhile to go through the accounts of the doctors who actually attended on Sri Aurobindo.
(9) There were all kinds of mischievous statements about Sri Aurobindo and the Mother made by strong lobbies in Pondicherry of those days. In order to dismiss such impressions, Jatindranath Sen Gupta, friend of one of the members of the Ashram, offered to write a piece for the daily Hindu of Madras, published in May 1927 (p. 358). Our author considers it more an “exercise in public relations than an example of balanced reporting.” But, historically speaking, we must understand that people in that age in India had no idea about marketing; Sri Aurobindo always made decisions based on spiritual motives. The author’s mind is trying to judge these things based on his own upbringing, missing the perspective of space and time.
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1. Letters on Yoga-III (CWSA), Vol. 30, p 303
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