The Ashram Management’s Fear Psychosis -- Ranganath Raghavan

[Why are the trustees so frightened of publicity? Why this nervousness? Who generally exhibits this kind of fear psychosis? Those who have things to hide and who are afraid that the truth will go against them! Those who stand for truth should not fear anything; they should not fear publicity of their views.(extract)] [more...]

The Ashram  Management’s Nervousness

 and Fear Psychosis Regarding 

the Book “The Lives of Sri Aurobindo”

It appears that Vijay Poddar presented an excellent review of the book referred to above at  Grace office to the five trustees of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. It was a masterly exposition. He had culled information from various sources and collected the views of many authors who have expressed their opinions on the book.

When Krishna Chakraborty asked  Manoj Dasgupta whether Vijay could repeat his talk at the Hall of Harmony for a larger audience, which was eager to hear his talk, he responded that it could be done, but not at the Hall of Harmony.

Then Kiran Poddar and Vijay were summoned once again for “clarifications”. The meeting went off very badly. They were shouted at and accused of many things. They were even asked why they did not stop the Dharna under the Balcony. Hot words were exchanged until finally Vijay had to tell the trustees that if it came to a showdown between the Mother and Sri Aurobindo on one side and the Trustees on the other, he would not hesitate to go against them.

Then the talk  by Vijay Poddar, scheduled for Tuesday evening, the 14^th of February, 2012 was cancelled by the trustees, although they (Vijay and Kiran) were told that if, in their judgment, the talk would be useful to the Ashramites they could hold the talk.

What I am wondering about is this:

Why are the trustees so frightened of publicity? Why this nervousness? Who generally exhibits this kind of fear psychosis? Those who have things to hide and who are afraid that the truth will go against them! Those who stand for truth should not fear anything; they should not fear publicity of their views.

This nervousness and fear has been clear, conspicuous,  right from the beginning of the whole drama, more than four years ago, when this episode  started.   

The first sign of this fear and fidgety nervousness manifested itself when articles and views against the book by Peter Heehs appeared on the Internet. The immediate reaction was that it was “bad”. Pray, why was it bad? What did the trustees have to hide? Why did they not stand up boldly by their own opinions?

Next came the refusal to make a public statement condemning the book and dissociating the Sri Aurobindo Ashram from the book. Why this refusal to distance the Ashram from a book that criticises Sri Aurobindo, the Avatar, and that too by a member of his own Ashram?

On insistence from several quarters, a hastily drawn up, reluctant  and very cursory note was circulated to some of the departments  in the Ashram internally and then the notice was withdrawn as fast as possible.  A public statement to the Press, disowning the book  and distancing itself from the contents of the objectionable book was categorically ruled out. We wonder why!

Then came the masterpiece that defies all logic. Any spiritual organization would have willingly and proudly printed an article on “Guru Droha” (betrayal of the Guru). But when an Oriya magazine of the Ashram printed such an article, it was hastily and with unseemly urgency withdrawn, thus even undergoing a monetary loss, because of the wasted printed sheets! One wonders at this fantastic action. Why all this nervousness? What was being avoided? What was being hidden from the public at large?

Now the last nail in the coffin of credibility has been hammered in with a completely disproportionate force. What was the need to cancel a talk that would have exposed the obnoxious nature of the book, its pretensions to objectivity, its false research and biased opinions?

By all this nervousness and fear, have the trustees not exposed their cards, exactly those cards which they were trying to hold close to their chests, so that no one would see them? Have they not condemned themselves by their own actions? When an accused refuses to testify on the ground  that the testimony could incriminate him, is he not , in a way, confirming his guilt? A very similar situation seems to be playing out here too.

The Ashramites have a right to know what is going on and why this spirited support to a bigoted book written by a foreigner who takes pride in declaring that he is NOT a devotee.

Satisfactory answers are required very badly and urgently!  

Ranganath Raghavan