The Appeal by Julian Lines for Harmony and Peace -- by Ranganath Raghavan

[Julian Lines, a close friend of Peter Heehs, wrote a letter to us on 22 April, 2009 appealing for peace and harmony. Here is Ranganath Raghavan's reply to it.]

The appeal seems to be a sincere and deeply felt reaction to the ongoing matter connected with the author of the book “The Lives of Sri Aurobindo”. If so, it is certainly to be welcomed and appreciated. But it could also be motivated by a desire to get Peter Heehs off the hook and save him from the predicament he finds himself in.

But if a true and lasting harmony is to be established, then the real genesis of the problem must be identified with an objective, sincere attempt, free of all hang-ups, personal, preferential, racial or otherwise.

An objective view will immediately perceive the origin of the crisis to be the following:

An inmate, a long standing member of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram has betrayed the Guru and has broadcast his limited, erroneous, mental judgments on Sri Aurobindo in a book printed in the USA and intended to be circulated widely all over the world. It does not matter if the book contains, “praise, appreciation and positive comments” which so many are finding wonderful. But even one drop of potent poison can impart a knock-out blow to the most palatable Soma-wine!! And this book contains generous doses of this poison.

It is to be noted that all arguments supporting freedom of speech, denouncing “religious fundamentalism” and narrowness could be possibly valid if the perpetrator of this spiritually objectionable behaviour were an outsider and not a member of the Ashram. All these arguments fail completely when applied to a person who has chosen, by his own free will to be a full-fledged member of the spiritual organization to whose rules he must subordinate himself and to whose head and Guru, he must surrender fully. And this is all the more sharply true and applicable when such a person has enjoyed all the physical comforts and conveniences and the spiritual support of the Ashram.

So, how do we arrive at the harmony desired and prayed for?

All artificial attempts to achieve this harmony, by pouring salve superficially on the festering sore, will fail miserably. Either the cancerous growth has to be excised radically or the error has to be faced squarely, honestly and in a definite manner.

Either the author, insisting on his stand being valid, withdraws from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, maintaining his right to free speech,

Or he admits the error of his ways in questioning the Guru, finding fault with Him and even denigrating Him, and wishing to remain a member of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, makes amends by withdrawing his book from circulation and promises not to repeat the same act. He must also withdraw from the Archives Department and work elsewhere in the Ashram.

Let us note that both options do not undo the damage already done to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

Thus the appeal for harmony must be addressed to the party that has caused the crisis and not to those who choose to be true and faithful to the Guru.

Let the following points be clearly noted:

a) It is not true that only a handful of Ashramites object to Peter’s book. The large majority of the Ashramites condemn the book. It is a pity that the administration of the Ashram does not recognize this truth and act on it.

b) On the contrary, it is only a small group of mostly foreigners, who support the book, approve and justify it. This is what makes one wonder where the alleged issue of racialism originates.

c) The cure for a cancerous growth is an excision of the diseased part from the main body. One does not ask the healthy organs to accommodate to the diseased part. To do so, would be similar to asking the Allied powers to adjust and make peace with Hitler’s war-belligerence.

d) The willingness to pardon is always present in the organisation, if there is humility and admission of one’s erroneous ways on the part of the guilty party and willingness to make amends by withdrawing the book from circulation and withdrawing himself from the Archives.

e) It should also be noted that the Ashramites have nothing to do with the banning of the book and the Court cases (though many are quite happy with the Orissa Govt’s prompt action.) All that is being done by outside devotees who have been deeply hurt by the book and have definitely a right to challenge the author’s misinterpretations regarding Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.


Ranganath Raghavan
May 2009