Friday, July 24, 2015

Blog posts have harmed the campaign due to its aggression

Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri Aurobindo & The Mother.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Two plots for college building and playground were allotted to SAES


July 18, 2015 - savemirambika
Mirambika Crisis: Chronological facts re why 45 Mirambika parents have gone before the Delhi High Court against SAES & Others?
1st July,1964
Sri Aurobindo Education Society was formed under the provisions of Societies Registration Act, 1860.
5th March,1984
Two plots of land one for 5 acre for “college building” and another for 4.84 acre for playground was allotted to the Society.
As per the prevailing norms prescribed in MPD 1962, for college 15 acres was to be allotted and for School and allied activities 5 to 10 acre land was to be allotted.
Sometime after the allotment in March,1984
Late Shri V P Kashyap, IAS the then Secretary of SAES gave an affidavit to DDA that that, the 9.84 acres of land located in Kalu Sarai is meant to be used for MIRAMBIKA Research Center for Integral Education and Human Values. As per the affidavit,  there was no proposal by the Society for the construction of a regular traditional college but the proposal was to construct a building for the following uses-(i)  Research Wing (ii) Teachers training Wing, (iii) Children Wing (Nursery section), (iv) Library, and (v)   Auditorium
7th April,1984
This affidavit / request was processed by the DDA.
28th August,
1984
After noting the content of the affidavit and the request, it was noted by DDA:
·        Therefore, it is suggested that the allotment may be examined whether it is given for the purposes of college or for a research and training center, which is covered as an institutional use not as a college purpose.
·        As the plan is already under consideration for approval before the Commission and the Building Department, if any action is required for the change of lease, the same may kindly be taken immediately. It may also be checked up if any extra money is to be charged from the Society as the rate for institutional land is perhaps Rs. 6.00 laces per acre.
9th November,
1984
Perpetual Lease for 5 Acre of land for “college building” and temporary lease of 4.84 acre of land was executed in favor of the Society at highly concessional rates by DDA.
September, 1985
Late Shri V P Kashyap, IAS the then Secretary of SAES filed a counter affidavit in the Supreme Court of India stating that
“……..7.That this respondent got the land ABCD the area of which is 9.84 acres (5 acres for the college buildings and 4.84 acres for play grounds) as shown below:-
(b)   This Respondent was running a School at premises adjacent to Sri Aurobindo Ashram. After preliminary dialogue, this respondent made a formal application on 18th February, 1965 to the Delhi Administration for allotment of the land for the purpose of setting up a special college on the ideals of Sri Aurobindo.”
4th December, 1985
DDA granted building permission for the building as per the affidavit submitted by late Shri V P Kashyap, for three years till 4th December, 1988.
7th January, 1986
Construction of Mirambika building commenced.
14th August, 1986
The Society, in the meeting held on the eve of Sri Aurobindo Birthday, decided that:
“Resolved that institutional land allotted of 9.84 acres to the society be utilized for MIRAMBIKA- Research Centre for integral Education and Human Values, with mainly four Units:
–      A pilot School
–      A Teacher Training College
–      A Research Unit proper
–      A Research Centre
The chairman was authorized to submit plans for sanction and subsequent construction of the same.
The members felt that such an institution is of utmost necessity in the present Educational turmoil existing.”
27th July,1988
SAES applied for permission to open the Mirambika Free Progress School.
29th August, 1988
Competent Authorities issued Essentiality Certificate.
30th August, 1988
SAES requested that since Mirambika Free Progress School is an Autonomous School, certain relaxations be granted to it.
This request was not denied.
5th January,1989
Recognition was granted to Mirambika Free Progress School.
1991
Upon completion of Mirambika Building, school started functioning from the new building, where it resided till 13/4/2015.
21st February, 1992
Up gradation granted to Mirambika Free Progress School up to 10thStandard.
19th January,2015
A decision was also taken in the meeting of the Executive Committee Board of the Society to introduce degree / diploma courses. Apparently from the same building from where Mirambika was functioning till 13/4/2015. The foregoing was not disclosed to anybody/the petitioners.
19th February,2015
Applications were made to the Government of Delhi for issuance of No Objection Certificates for commencement of M.Ed., B.Ed., B.Com and B. Tech. (Computer Science & IT) courses. Apparently from the same building from where Mirambika was functioning till 13/4/2015. The foregoing was not disclosed to anybody/the petitioners.
25th February,2015
Application(s) were also made to the AICTE seeking approval for establishment for an institution for running B. Tech in Computer Science and Information Technology course exclusively for girls. Apparently from the same building from where Mirambika was functioning till 13/4/2015. The foregoing was not disclosed to anybody/the petitioners…
20th March, 2015
Children of the School were sent on Picnic on the day of inspection of their School building by AICTE based on SAES application mentioned above.
13th April,
2015
When the parents came to know about the above, they made a complaint to AICTE and requested that proceedings before SAC (Standing Committee of Appeal) scheduled for 14th April, 2015 be deferred.
Intervening night of 13th -14th April, 2015
Mirambika Free Progress School closed and shifted to Ashram premises.
This brutal, totally illegal & uninformed closure and subsequent shifting was widely criticized.
27th April, 2015
Petitioner made a representation to various authorities including DDA informing them regarding the closure of the school by SAES on the pretext that operation of the school since 1991 on the land allotted for college was a violation of the 1984 perpetual lease deed executed in favor of the Society by the DDA, and it could ultimately lead to cancellation of the allotment and resumption of land by the DDA.
6th May, 2015
Some of the parents moved the Delhi High  Court by filing a writ petition. The Hon’ble Court was pleased to direct “status quo” with regard to the building prior to 14th April,2015.
6th July, 2015
Following an RTI application, it was revealed that Chief Legal Adviser of DDA has opined that:
“…..To summarize if it is deemed administratively appropriate, the school may continue as per legal position discussed in the foregoing paragraphs and the Engineering College should not be allowed to be set ­up as it would be contrary to the purpose and the terms and conditions of allotment.”
Upon refusal by / failure of the Society to take the School back to its original building, the 45 parents have petitioned the Delhi High Court in two groups, first one of 9 in May (before DDA SCN and CLA legal opinion) and second one of 36 in July (after DDA SCN and CLA legal opinion).

Monday, July 13, 2015

A tale of two evictions

Petition regarding plagiarism Rajiv Malhotra, whose criticisms of scholarship on India will be familiar to many on this blog, has been accused by Richard Fox Young of plagiarism in his ...

Mirambika Crisis: parents’ emails pleading with SAES, Pranjal Jauhar, etc to restore Mirambika to its pre 14/4 location ———- Forwarded message ———- From: Date: Sun, Jul 12, 2015 at 9:26 AM Subject: Fwd: {Mirambika All Parents} Prabhat’s peaceful protest, day 4: school manage...
Prabhat Garg on a sit in protest at Gate No. 6 Mirambika Crisis: Some parents begin a peaceful sit in protest opposite the Aurobindo Ashram Gate No. 6 July 9, 2015 - savemirambika Prabhat Garg, who earl...

Two of the Ashram sisters on Sunday alleged that neither the Puducherry government nor the police have not acted upon the directive of the National Human Rights Commission to provide food and other facilities to them as assured during an NHRC camp held during April here.
Following a Supreme Court order, five sisters were evicted from the apartments run by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in December last year. Two of the sisters and their mother died in a family suicide bid following the eviction.
Sisters Jayashree Prasad, Nivedita Prasad, Hemalata Prasad and their father Gadhadhar Prasad had survived.
No FIR
Ms. Hemalata further added that the police had not filed an FIR or made arrests in the issue of abetment to suicide.
The government had not acted upon the NHRC’s directive on ensuring food, a fundamental right, to the sisters, she alleged.
“The Supreme Court had only mentioned about vacating the premises. As inmates of the Ashram we are still entitled to facilities. The government is yet to provide us spinster pension. The government and police have definitely failed us,” said Ms. Hemalata.
Ms. Nivedita and Ms. Hemalata said that they were contemplating their further course of action, following a discussion with the rights’ organisations.

Sisters now threaten indefinite fast to get into Aurobindo ashram ...

timesofindia.indiatimes.com › City
9 hours ago - Two of the five sisters from Bihar, who were evicted from the Sri AurobindoAshram following an order from the Supreme Court, launched an indefinite fast from ...

Evicted Sisters Seek Justice, Reinstatement | The New Indian Express

m.newindianexpress.com/tamil-nadu/499729
9 hours ago - The sisters had attempted suicide on December 17, 2014, after they were evicted from Sri Aurobindo Ashram on the orders of the Supreme Court of India in the  ...

Sisters now threaten indefinite fast to get into Aurobindo ashram ...

www.pondybazzar.com/.../sisters-now-threaten-indefinite-fast-to-get-into-a...
8 hours ago - PUDUCHERRY: Two of the five sisters from Bihar, who were evicted from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram following an order from the Supreme Court, launched an  ...

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Prabhat Garg on a sit in protest at Gate No. 6

Mirambika Crisis: Some parents begin a peaceful sit in protest opposite the Aurobindo Ashram Gate No. 6
Prabhat Garg, who earlier wrote the must read trailing email highlighting how the brutal 14/4 shift of Mirambika affected his child, began a peaceful sit in protest opposite the Aurobindo Ashram Gate No. 6 this morning. He has been intermittently joined by Ajay, Richa, Toto, Daksha, Vivek, Sameer, Amber and others. They have been singing ‘We shall overcome’, ‘Ambike – Mirambike’ and other songs to convey that they want Mirambika to shift back to its pre 14/4 premises given that documents obtained from DDA confirm that there is no threat of repossession of the land if Mirambika continues therefrom. This peaceful protest will continue till Mirambika is restored to its rightful place.​

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Prabhat Garg

Friday, July 3, 2015

Evil, pralaya, and astrology

By S. Ferguson on February 5, 2014
While I do not agree with Sri Aurobindo’s theories of evolution, I do find his analysis of the Rig Veda compelling. He evaluates the Rig Veda from the inner esoteric perspective, what he terms 'psychological' - term more general in the era he initially wrote this study, 1914-17.R.L. Kashyap's translation of the Rig Veda is the result of this initial research. The first volume and/or full set is available on amazon. R.L. Kashyap has published many smaller books examining themes in the Rig Veda, one of which "Semantics of the Rig Veda" is an excellent introduction to his work. For those who are serious about understanding the mystery and enigma of the Rig Veda, these books are definitely worth your time.

R.L. Kashyap's translation of the Rig Veda is the result of Sri Aurobindo's initial research. The first volume and/or full set is available on amazon. R.L. Kashyap has published many smaller books examining themes in the Rig Veda, one of which is this "Semantics of the Rig Veda" and is an excellent introduction to his work. For those who are serious about understanding the mystery and enigma of the Rig Veda, these books are definitely worth your time. The word semantics is accurate, however slightly dull sounding - and this book is anything but dull as it reveals just about every why they got is wrong and why the esoteric interpretation works imaginable! See "Secret of the Veda" by Sri Aurobindo - here at amazon.

S. Ferguson 4 months ago - Hi Don,
Thank you for your intelligent question. I wish I had a final answer. I am unable to weave evolution into the theory of the Cycles of Time. I can accept that everything is constantly changing in the temporal realms, in all four Yugas. Ice Ages show that. However the idea that we are evolving into some kind of Super Being seems at odds with the Dissolutions (pralaya) that are said to take place at the end of four yugas, etc.
I would be sincerely interested in your views, because I have been unable to reconcile both of these ideas. I really like what R.L. Kashyap has done in translating the Rig Veda. It's a joy to read! The great scholar S.K Ramachandra Rao (who I very much admire) has agreed with Kashyap's interpretation based on Aurobindo's initial insights, which I agree are quite brilliant. But where does that leave the Cycles of Time? Does every great master always get everything right? It has occurred to me that Aurobindo may have been influenced by the Mother whose background was western occultism. What are your thoughts?

Don Salmon 4 months ago
Oh, one more thing - if you're interested in what we (Jan and I) have written on evolution, there are some excerpts from our book - Yoga Psychology and the Transformation of Consciousness: Seeing Through the Eyes of Infinity - over at integralworld.com - in the Reading Room, under Salmon - 'Ken Wilber's Evolutionary View Gets a Trim With Ockham's Razor", in several parts. That may give some indication of how we approach evolution. I think even huston smith soften his opposition to Aurobindo over the years - he was heavily influenced by Schuon but later had long long conversations with Robert McDermott that shifted his views somewhat. 

By L. Ron Gardner - Published on Amazon.com
This book is of particular interest to me because the subject matter is right up my alley--tying together yoga philosophy and depth psychology. And what makes it even more interesting is the yoga philosophy authors Salmon and Maslow use in their treatise--Sri Aurobindo's.
Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) was not only a great mystic and sage, but also India's preeminent twentieth-century philosopher. Aurobindo originated Integral Yoga, which Professor Georg Fuerstein, the world's foremost authority on yoga, describes as "the single most impressive attempt to reformulate Yoga for our modern needs and abilities." "Integral" Yoga gurus such as the late, prominent Swami Satchidananda (who founded Integral Yoga Institute) and "Integral" New Age philosophers such as the renowned Ken Wilber (who created Integral Life) owe their inspiration and orientation to Aurobindo's seminal Integral Yoga philosophy.
Although I love and appreciate the authors' integration of Aurobindo's Divine Yoga with depth psychology, I certainly don't agree with everything in this book. Moreover, I wish the authors had mentioned astrology, because from my perspective as an ex-professional astrologer, I do not think it's possible to get a full sense of one's karmic patterns, one's psychical matrix, without an in-depth natal chart consideration. But overall, this book contains so much insightful and enlightening material, I rate it as a marvelous and "must" read for anyone interested in yoga psychology and the transformation of consciousness.

Ashtar Command says: In reply to an earlier post on Mar 9, 2015 - Don,
The problem, however, is precisely the question of evil. "Eating the mango" suggests that evil really is evil, if you get my point, in a robust sense (ISIS comes to mind here). But if everything is "in" God and ultimately comes from God, wouldn´t this imply that evil also comes from God? But if so, God cannot be perfect - i.e. cannot be God (almost by definition). Casteel is right that classical theism is an attempted response to this problem, by suggesting that the world - in some sense - is "outside" God and hence can be deprived of good/evil. On *this* point, I think classical theism sounds reasonable, somehow...
You are right that Aurobindo is usually seen as an intellectual, theoretical guy, like the Hindu version of Teilhard (who is also seen as intellectual-theoretical in this scenario). I originally thought so to, until reading M Alan Kazlev's criticism of Ken Wilber's view of Aurobindo at the "Integral World" site of Frank Visser. Aurobindo was (surprise) a mystic and yogi - Teilhard was also a mystic, although I know very little about it. Perhaps they choose to clothe their mysticism in intellectual garb as a "skillfull means" to attract, say, intellectual types like the Ashtar Command? ;-)

Ashtar Command says: In reply to an earlier post on Jan 26, 2013
Probably in Kazlev´s article on Wilber at the Integral World website. And/or at Kazlev´s own website Kheper. Probably also in Vrekhem´s book "Beyond the human species". The last chapters of Aurobindo´s own "The Life Divine" cover the issue, but they are extremely hard to read! Something admitted by Kazlev. I gave up... 

Aurobindo seems unusual - when I tried to read another chapter of his book I got the impression that he believes in a kind of personal god?! At least one historian of religion, whose name escapes me at the present moment, agrees with me there... But then, "personal god" can mean different things, certainly within a "Hindu" context! Reply to this post

Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy

https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=0231519478
Aurobindo, Sri. The Future Poetry. Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, vol. 9. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1973. —. Hymns to the Mystic Fire. SriAurobindo Birth Centenary Library, vol. 11. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram  ...

Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments - Page 37

https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=0873959906
Aurobindo was aware of such attacks, his withdrawal into the practice of Integral Yoga placed him at some distance from continual reenforce- ment of such criticisms. He was removed both from that culture and from concern for the authority of  ...

Mysteries of Death, Fate, Karma, and Rebirth: In the Light ...

https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=8170587727
Jugal Kishore Mukherjee - 2004 - ‎Snippet view
In the Light of the Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother Jugal Kishore Mukherjee. Publishers' Note We are happy to bring to the reading public a seventh research work from the pen of Jugal Kishore Mukherjee who happens to be a  ...