The recent events surrounding the publication by Columbia University Press of a new biography of him by Peter Heehs, who has written other scholarly work on Indian Religion and Indian History for publishers as notable as Oxford University Press, Penguin Press and New York University Press, are troubling indeed.

Because Mr. Heehs attempts not a hagiography but a critical biography of his subject the current orthodoxy of “intellectual” leaders in the Aurobindo movement in India have seen fit to issue what could otherwise be called a “fatwa” against him. So far as I understand it the author of The Lives of Sri Aurobindo has been subject to the following:

1) Censorship
2) Being thrown out of his job in the Sri Aurobindo Archives
3) Being strong armed into changing the “objectionable parts” of the Indian edition of his book
4) Having trumped up charges of theft laid on him
5) Receiving numerous threats against him
6) Having his property damaged
7) Having been physically attacked and beaten

I have written an article published on an integral yoga web site describing what I find to be the psychology behind these events: http://www.sciy.org/blog/_archives/2008/10/24/3945492.html

From my own perspective it is perfectly appalling what has occurred in a practice of integral yoga that officially declares itself not to be a religion. Information about the Aurobindo Ashram can be found at http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ If anyone has concerns about this matter and has a few minutes of time, I would ask him/her to write letters of concern about these events to the Aurobindo Ashram.

regards
Rich

Although I was already against the war in Iraq because there was absolutely no supporting evidence to go to war, this pre-war intelligence of business deals being done well before the war started, made perfectly clear that rather than a hunt for weapons of mass destruction, Iraq represented a gold rush for those firms well placed to access contracts which often were not competed. As documents like the “Downing Street Memo” subsequently have shown rather than a colossus, Blair was a Faustian figure who had participated in an act of deception which resulted in an unprovoked attack on Iraq. In joining the United States in unilateral action against Iraq, he ignored the warnings and dissent from the topmost world-centric body the United Nations, electing instead to wage war; a war that to an unprecedented degree has enriched many private corporations. So how had such a smart guy like Ken Wilber utilizing an “integral approach” misread the situation so dramatically?

I then began thinking about those folks in the Integral Yoga whom I have come to know over the course of a twenty seven year involvement with it. What came to mind was the fact that many elder members of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram had become involved in the reactionary political movement of Hindu Nationalism called Hinduvta. I came to learn that supporters of extremist right wing groups like the RAS often rented whole buildings for their membership in Pondicherry home of the Aurobindo Ashram. Moreover, there were numerous westerns in the Ashram and Auorville as well, who subscribed to the political movement of Hinduvta that emphasized the purity of Hinduism or Hinduness.

Some of the more radical elements of Hinduvta advocate an ethnically cleansed all Hindu view
of India. One History text book written by a life long member of the Ashram actually spoke of Muslims in terms of swarming hordes of Locus invading Hindu India. When the Karghil crisis of 1999/2000 occurred in which Pakistani Forces crossed over into Indian Kashmir there were essays issued from the Ashram declaring that Sri Aurobindo’s work would not be done until Pakistan was completely defeated and assimilated into India

Given the substantial socio-political text of Sri Aurobindo which affirmed both a secular state and the Enlightenment values of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, I was certain that these militant demands by those in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram would have been denounced by Sri Aurobindo the founder of Integral Yoga. So why were some of his followers, following the path of such a chauvinistic movement?

Finally, I also recalled some of my research while pursuing a Masters Degree in Organizational Psychology. Some professors at the M.I.T Sloan School of Management had recently developed a technique which based on esoteric knowledge facilitated the coming to presence of deep tacit knowledge which they claimed helpful in advancing strategic thinking for leaders in the knowledge economy. I found their work extremely interesting, but at some point it occurred to me that the techniques they were teaching were uncannily similar to Jungian Active Imagination. Now wait a minute, I thought, why would someone be imparting esoteric practices, otherwise meant for self-cultivation and exploring psychological issues as a means to facilitate strategic thinking to one of the most environmentally and socially exploitive forces on the planet namely, corporate America?

These questions began my interest in this subject, I then found that Michel had written an extremely insightful paper on neo-conservative thinking in the integral theory of Ken Wilber and Don Beck. Encouraged that I had found a very articulate brother on the path to corroborate what I had been thinking. I took the time to do some research and write the paper as it is now.

Rich