AEON Group of USA condemns Heehs’ Book and the Hypocrisy of Ashram Trustees

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Article by Robert E. Wilkinson

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The Sri Aurobindo Ashram Reaps what it has Sown

From: "Robert E. Wilkinson" <robtw@sprynet.com>
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2012 10:57 PM
Subject: The Sri Aurobindo Ashram Reaps what it has Sown

Namaste,

This essay is being sent out to educators, writers, and students throughout the world who have distinguished themselves as supporters of the incomparable work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. By this time many of you will know that Peter Heehs has been quoted by CNN/IBN as saying that Sri Aurobindo was NOT an Avatar, merely another spiritual teacher. This is an outrage coming from a researcher and long term resident of the Ashram who is expected to be privy to information about Sri Aurobindo that others do not have. What is worse, the Trustees of Sri Aurobindo's and the Mother's legacy who have a duty to protest against such a demonstrable lie sit by and do nothing. This clearly identifies the Board as being hostile to the very thing they pretend to uphold confirming Sri Aurobindo's own statement that some of his biggest disciples were Asuras. This cannot be allowed to go on. What is required for Sri Aurobindo's, the Mother's message to rise, take hold and endure is the final unmasking and expulsion of these retrograde forces from the occult seat of their work. This can only be done with irrefutable Knowledge. I hope you will join me in this battle for truth, for Sri Aurobindo's legacy, and for India and the World.

With Best Regards,

Robert E. Wilkinson



 

The Sri Aurobindo Ashram Reaps what it has Sown

By
Robert E. Wilkinson © 
 

In an attempt to discourage someone from writing his biography, Sri Aurobindo once wrote that he did not want to be murdered in cold print by his disciples; yet, this is exactly what has happened. In an April 6, 2012 report by CNN/IBN, American historian Peter Heehs, author of the controversial book, 'The Lives of Sri Aurobindo' is quoted as making the authoritative statement that'…Sri Aurobindo was a spiritual leader, not an Avatar.'

In response to the recent furor in Pondicherry over Peter Heehs's controversial book, 'The Lives of Sri Aurobindo', the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trustees have issued the following statement:

'The considered view of Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust is that it does not project itself in the role of dictating to readers and followers of Sri Aurobindo, as to what they should read and what they should not read. Each person is at complete liberty to decide for himself whether he finds any book to be meaningful and useful, or whether he does not find it to be so, and Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust respects and has full faith in the intellectual and spiritual discernment of the readers. No one should or needs to force his personal opinions on any other reader in general, and more particularly on the followers of Sri Aurobindo.'
(bold emphasis mine)

Anyone who has bothered to follow events in the Pondicherry Ashram since the Mother's passing in 1973 will find this statement by the Trustees to be the absolute peak of hypocrisy. Not only have members of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram dictated to their students what they should and should not read and think, Ashram Press employees have even destroyed an important manuscript in their possession to prevent students of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother from having access to knowledge that would expose the inexcusable incompetence of their own leaders. In 1978 the manuscript of The New Way,^1. Vols. 1 & 2' by 'Thea', Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet was sent to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press for printing under a agreement between Thea and the Ashram Trustees. As many will know, this book chronicles the history of the Mother's Temple plan from its inception until its willful destruction by the Mother's own disciples on January 17^th, 1970. More importantly The New Way gave forth the indisputable proofs and objective cosmic credentials of Vishnu's Evolutionary Avatars.

'It is the Vedic Divine Measure alone that provides the objective key which allows the Avatar to have his mission confirmed not by the sentimental, emotional and subjective experiences of his devotees, but rather the Cosmos becomes his credentials. God supports His supreme REALISER by the cosmic harmonies of His universal manifestation, the script written in his very body. Indeed if this is veritably the Supramental Manifestation, which is the ultimate reconciliation of Spirit and Matter, that 'spirit' must unveil itself unquestionably in the workings of the material kingdom which is the extension of its own truth-essence. The coming of the Evolutionary Avatars is itself the means for this unveiling.' 'Thea', Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet,
The Vishaal Newsletter, December, 1987

Owing to petty conflicts and ego disputes with Thea an Ashram Press employee named, X., intent on halting publication of The New Way, filed a bogus complaint with the Press manager, Y. who then refused to print the manuscript. Together they proceeded to shred all copies of the then 2/3 completed book. While most people may find it incredible that such an important book could be destroyed over a personal vendetta, it is necessary to go deeper into the nature of the forces behind these extraordinary events. Then as now, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram was not exclusively populated with highly evolved spiritual types, it also contained individuals representing the most irredeemable evolutionary forces of resistance and denial - a collective entity that the Mother called the 'Lord of Nations'. In an encounter with this Vital Asura on the subtle plane he told her, "…I know you will destroy me, but before being destroyed I will wreak just as much havoc as I can, you can be sure of that." (The Mother's Agenda, Jan. 12, 1965). The Mother went on to explain that certain individuals are unconscious that they act for this asuric force, genuinely believing that they are doing the right thing. Sri Aurobindo was in complete agreement with the Mother, writing that some of his biggest disciples were Asuras - anti-divine forces vehemently dedicated to the suppression of the truth and a denial of the light. Few will appreciate that owing to their petty jealousies and personal vendettas, X. and Y. made themselves unwitting pawns of these retrograde forces dedicated to the suppression and destruction of Sri Aurobindo's, the Mother's, and Thea's work. Today, after decades of ruthless censorship, connivance, and lies these anti-divine forces acting through Pondicherry's mental elites have succeeded in concealing from aspiring students throughout the world the descent of a Supramental Knowledge unparalleled since the Vedic age. With this malicious act of censorship Ashram authorities formalized an ongoing policy of suppression and distortion that finally culminated in the complete deconstruction of Sri Aurobindo's work and mission by Peter Heehs in the pages of his controversial book.

Today in Pondicherry there is growing outrage among many of the sadhaks over the disrespectful caricature of their beloved guru presented in the Heehs book. There have been protests, demonstrations, lawsuits and calls for the resignation of the entire board of trustees for approving such an offensive biography. But in the final analysis and owing to the persistent exclusion of the true knowledge of who and what Sri Aurobindo was, the Heehs book was simply a logical and entirely predictable example of the decontextualization, gossip, and lies that could only emerge given the complete absence of any higher understanding of Sri Aurobindo's life and mission. And while Heehs is clearly guilty of perpetuating a disrespectful and fraudulent caricature of Sri Aurobindo, the sadhaks themselves are equally as guilty in the outcome for allowing Ashram authorities to tell them what they should or should not read and think instead of pursuing the truth and deciding for themselves. And while one does not expect devotees to understand the complex question of avatarhood, in spite of everything Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have written on the subject, it is expected that the Trustees of their legacy would object to a founding member of the Ashram Archives Department writing emphatically that Sri Aurobindo was NOT an emanation of Vishnu. It would be their duty to raise a protest against such an 'authoritative' statement from a person who, it would appear, is expected to be privy to information that others ignore. However, we find the contrary to be the case: Peter Heehs's book receives the support of the Ashram Trust while the only authoritative book on earth confirming empirically Sri Aurobindo's avatarhood, is shredded to pieces so that devotes and disciples would not have access to the truth. This alone identifies the Board as being hostile to the very thing they pretend to uphold, confirming Sri Aurobindo's statement that his biggest disciples were asuras. And while they will never admit it, this entire Heehs affair is about the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and its sheep-like followers reaping exactly what they have sown.

In terms of Sri Aurobindo's true identity the matter could not be clearer. He had warned us years before that the true meaning of his life was not on the surface for men to see.

'What matters in a spiritual man's life is not what he did or what he was outside to the view of the men of his time (that is what historicity or biography comes to, does it not?) but what he was and did within; it is only that that gives any value to his outer life at all. It is the inner life that gives to the outer any power it may have and the inner life of a spiritual man is something vast and full and, at least in the great figures, so crowded and teeming with significant things that no biographer or historian could ever hope to seize it all or tell it. I see that you have persisted in giving a biography – is it really necessary or useful? The attempt is bound to be a failure, because neither you nor anyone else knows anything at all of my life; it has not been on the surface for men to see.' SABCL, Vol 22 p. 428
(bold emphasis mine)

The Mother added to his comments saying that 'What Sri Aurobindo represents in the world's history is not a teaching, not even a revelation; it is a decisive action, direct from the Supreme…Sri Aurobindo is an emanation of the Supreme who came on earth to announce the manifestation of a new race and a new world: the supramental. Let us prepare for it in all sincerity and eagerness.'

The common and willful error for both Heehs and the Ashramites is their failure to listen to the Mother; to acknowledge who Sri Aurobindo was and the evolutionary context of his appearance on the earth at this particular time and no other. In his book, Heehs actively
rejects the evolutionary significance of Sri Aurobindo's unique incarnation and in spite of the Mother's unequivocal statements, encourages in his readers a complete disinterest in Sri Aurobindo's 'Avatarhood', an omission that he excuses as a distracting hagiographic idealization in which he had no real interest.

'...What about the assertion that Aurobindo was an avatar? I can't say that the question interests me very much. Aurobindo never claimed the distinction for himself, ^2. and I don't think anyone alive is in a position to say one way or the other...' (Peter Heehs, from the Columbia website)

^3.(It should be noted that in an April 2012 interview reported by CNN/IBN Heehs's 'disinterest' has taken a significant leap with him now being quoted as saying: 'Sri
Aurobindo was a spiritual leader, not an Avatar.' (bold emphasis mine)

For persons of knowledge, the arrogance of this statement is simply breathtaking. Unfortunately it reflects a long standing attitude of many of the so-called wise-men who claim to 'adore Sri Aurobindo and the Mother'. It is as if the Vedic tradition of the Avatar is meaningless, even though it is sanctified by the Gita in Sri Krishna's own words, and Sri Aurobindo's and the Mother's as well. Moreover, Heehs' contention that no one alive today is in a position to say one way or another reveals a stunning lack of research on his part or, more likely, a calculated decision to ignore the volumes of objective proofs that have been published by Thea and accepted and catalogued by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives; an organization which lists Heehs as one of its founding member. Given the volumes of non-speculative proofs of Sri Aurobindo's Avataric credentials on file in the Ashram Archives and Heehs ready access to this material, his only reason for making such a disingenuous statement is that he, like his Ashram cronies, know that the Supramental proofs of Sri Aurobindo's avatarhood also include the irrefutable details of the third stage of the Supramental Descent as well as the details of Sri Aurobindo's rebirth as the Fourth. Moreover they know that any acknowledgement of these objective proofs would mean an immediate end to the rule of orthodoxy and its stultifying dogma that has reduced this most important spiritual work of the age to an arrogant, fundamentalist and elitist cult. It is just as if a cadre of hard line Tibetan Buddhist fundamentalists had taken over the Potala Palace and suppressed the knowledge of the rebirth of the next Dalai Lama so they could continue to indulge their self-important pretentions as the unchallenged leaders of their faith.

Today in Pondicherry the Asuras are dancing. The forces of falsehood are thumbing their noses at the protesters and demonstrators made impotent by the deprivation of real knowledge. They have succeeded beyond their wildest hopes in rejecting the light and destroying its message in, of all places, their own printing house. HE who the Mother acknowledged as an emanation of the Supreme, unique in the history of the world, has been deconstructed and decontextualized into simply another spiritual teacher and no longer an Avatar. Peter Heehs has been allowed to stay in India and is now lauded by the press as, '…someone who knows the documentary evidence on and around Sri Aurobindo's life better than anyone else, and who has deep knowledge of the political and spiritual worlds in which his subject moved and by which he was shaped…' With the complicity of the naive Indian media the deception has become complete. Every official communication issued by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram especially the literary heresy by Peter Heehs has become a de facto negation of Sri Aurobindo's and the Mother's work and mission. In a letter to the Ashram Board of Trustees Thea explains:

'It is a fact that every publication issued from Ashram and Auroville sources, Heehs's included, passes on to the public – though the intention appears to be other – that both Sri Aurobindo and the Mother failed in their missions. Not one publication can factually prove otherwise; and since there is no one in your circles who can state the contrary and receive the accepted "imprimatur", this is the result: both Sri Aurobindo and the Mother failed "to deliver". Or if they did, we mortals are not qualified to prove what stands beyond human comprehension. And since this is your belief, you must accept full responsibility for spreading the idea that they seemed to have failed.

'Nothing could be farther from the truth. Not only did they complete their missions, they did so beyond our wildest expectations. You can be sure that Supermind would not leave the fulfilment of its descent and establishment on Earth to the "belief" of anyone: it is its own irrefutable proof.

'This has been fully documented, the only existing book [The New Way] to not only prove the victorious completion of their missions but also it is the only irrefutable documentation of the fact that they are Vishnu's Emanations – i.e., Evolutionary Avatars who come yuge, yuge, just as the Gita states, proven as only the Truth-Consciousness can do.' 'Thea', Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet Letter to the Board of Trustees, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, December, 2008.

As I write this article, there are thousands of sadhaks throughout the world who, owing to the deception of the Pondicherry elites, have virtually no understanding of who Sri Aurobindo was, the evolutionary importance of his life and mission, let alone his rebirth as the fourth in the Solar Line. Nevertheless, and without their knowledge, the success of Sri Aurobindo's, the Mother's and Thea's work goes on. An understanding of the Supermind and objective evidence of its deployment has been developed to extraordinary levels and applications of this Supramental knowledge have led to major breakthroughs in areas as diverse as Yoga, Cosmology, History, Geopolitics, and Science to name just a few. Those who have been deprived of this knowledge for so many decades must finally come to understand that protests, demonstrations and lawsuits will do nothing to redress their grievances. What is required for Sri Aurobindo's, the Mother's and Thea's message to rise, take hold and endure is the final unmasking and expulsion of these retrograde forces from the occult seat of their work. And this can only be done with Knowledge. As Thea write: 'It is the Vedic Divine Measure alone that provides the objective key which allows the Avatar to have his mission confirmed not by the sentimental, emotional and subjective experiences of his devotees, but rather the Cosmos becomes his credentials.'
Let us begin this important work as the Mother commanded,… in all sincerity and eagerness.

 

==================================

Footnotes:


1.) Destruction of The New Way manuscript

The original manuscript of The New Way was shredded in the offices of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press because it gave out indisputable proofs that the revised architects' version of the Mother's temple plan was not what she had originally intended. Anyone who doubts this need only read 'The Matrimandir Dialogues' (http://www.aeongroup.com/momtem.htm) Out of her original seeing which was utterly destroyed by the architects, the Mother recorded not only the arrangements of the elements of the room, but its fundamental measurements as well. It is a womb of Supramental Gnosis from which it is possible to receive the most essential information about the earth's journey into the future. The keys to Time are contained in the inner room, and the secret formula given in its sublime measurements. It records the descent of the Supramental consciousness and the actual dates of birth of Vishnu's Evolutionary Avatars, which are in fact recorded in the measurements of the Temple. This is why it has generated such hostility in those who would usurp Sri Aurobindo's authority and mission.

The New Way was later published in its entirety by Aeon Books along with numerous other volumes by Thea. A list of these titles may be found at: http://www.aeongroup.com/bks-art.htm

The New Way Vol. I & II: A study in the rise and the establishment of a gnostic society, Volumes 1 & 2, by 'Thea' Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet, at $45.00, from Æon Books, ISBN: 0945747063. The preeminent symbol of a new consciousness now manifesting upon the Earth is a cosmological structure known as the Mother's Temple. This sacred structure is a living manifestation of the descending Truth-Consciousness into Earth's atmosphere and symbolizes Earth's emerging Soul. Written into its architectonic structure are keys to the harmonies of the cosmos and the secrets of Supramental Time. 'Thea' explains the origins of this contemporary temple design and its occult measurements which define the evolution of consciousness on this planet.

The New Way and other titles may be ordered through Aeon Books, P O Box 396, Accord, NY 12404, USA, or Aeon Trust, P O Box 11, Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India. If you wish to contact Aeon Group the email address is aeongroup@msn.com

 
2.) Regarding Avatarhood.

In an April 20 letter to her students Thea discusses Heehs's specious claim that Sri Aurobindo never claimed to be an Avatar.

'I realise that this issue of avatarhood cannot be appreciated by westerners because it is not in their culture. But living in India since 1971 makes Heehs's position unforgivable. He has no contact with the soul of this civilsiation - of which the axis is the Dasavataras. I realise though that others cannot vibrate to the importance of highlighting this aspect of his mission. For me, there is nothing of greater importance for India and for the world.

And when Heehs writes and states that Sri Aurobindo never claimed the title for himself, this is absurd! He described the function of each Avatar since Sri Ram - the mental man; Sri Krishna, the overmental; and the next (skipping over the Buddha) would be Kalki, the Supermind. Kalki would come to correct the error of the Buddha. Who, pray tell, has been the pioneer of Supermind if not Sri Aurobindo? Where was Heehs living all those years?

I had to come along to put each thing in its place. Thank God for that, but I doubt any of you realise what this means...Thea '

 
3.) Vishnu's Line of Ten Avatars

Given the critical importance of Vishnu's appearance in our present Aquarian age, there can be absolutely no mistakes about his identity, his position in the Line of Ten Avatars, and his evolutionary mission. But due to the suppression of Sri Aurobindo's irrefutable Avataric credentials by Heehs and the Pondicherry elites, pretenders have emerged claiming the title for themselves, further clouding the issue and delaying the restoration of the Sanatana Dharma. The most prominent of these pretenders was the Indian god-man, [name edited]. For a detailed account of [name edited]'s empty Avataric claims and his lies concerning Sri Aurobindo made believable by the treachery of Sri Aurobindo's own disciples see: http://circumsolatious.blogspot.com/2011/06/[name edited]-counterfeit-avatar.html