Malice in Wonderland ─ An Observer

However, since a few years, there is a growing malice in this Wonderland. Deliberate efforts are made to avoid transparency, to distort things and maintain double standards. The malice is very deep-seated and the devil seems to be smiling at his own success. Now I am particularly pointing at the two news items titled “MPs seek ashram explanation on Heehs's book”, and “Ashram takes neutral stand on Heehs issue” in the The Times of India  dated 12 and 13 July, 2012 respectively. Both the reports have been obviously drafted with the consent and at the demand of the Ashram Trustees. First of all, the said book has been officially banned by the Indian government and a proper gazette notification has been issued by the High Court of Orissa. Why was the matter not challenged then and taken up now after 3 years? Why is this basic point always evaded in the media? [extract]

Malice in Wonderland

The Mother had thought that people don’t have time to think about the Divine because they have to work hard for their basic needs of life. Therefore she dreamed of creating a special place and organisation where people would not be burdened with the sole idea of earning their living, where all the necessities of life would be looked after so that they may devote the major portion of their life to the realisation of the Divine.

This was in some way, at least in thought, the genesis of Sri Aurobindo Ashram. In its early years, the Ashram was meant solely for the sadhaks and their spiritual pursuit. But during World War II, some parents felt that their children would be safe here. So around the Mother grew a wonderful world and this place indeed became a Wonderland because it was wondrous in every way. Even the older sadhaks acted as if they were the children of the Mother. They even stopped ageing and were ever eager to learn and progress in the Mother's Light.

However, since a few years, there is a growing malice in this Wonderland. Deliberate efforts are made to avoid transparency, to distort things and maintain double standards. The malice is very deep-seated and the devil seems to be smiling at his own success. Now I am particularly pointing at the two news items titled “MPs seek ashram explanation on Heehs's book”, and “Ashram takes neutral stand on Heehs issue” in the The Times of India  dated 12^th and 13th July, 2012 respectively. Both the reports have been obviously drafted with the consent and at the demand of the Ashram Trustees. First of all, the said book has been officially banned by the Indian government and a proper gazette notification has been issued by the High Court of Orissa. Why was the matter not challenged then and taken up now after 3 years? Why is this basic point always evaded in the media?

Will the Ashram authorities accept the false allegation that the Mother and Sri Aurobindo had a romantic relation? Will the Trustees accept that Sri Aurobindo was a liar and had no confidence in his own realisation? Will they accept that he had symptoms of madness and that his genius was just an outcome of it? Will they accept that he never had an Adesh (an inner direction) and that it was because he was frightened of the British that he moved to Pondicherry? Does a historian have a right to change historical facts or is he supposed to faithfully record history? When Sri Aurobindo himself has spoken about the Adesh, how can Peter Heehs prove that he did not receive it? What about Sri Aurobindo not wanting to appear for the horse-riding test in England? He himself has mentioned that he did not want to be an ICS officer under the British administration in India, and the easiest way to avoid it was not to take the riding test and get disqualified. Our so called “historian” has created stories that Sri Aurobindo appeared for the riding test, failed miserably and pleaded for a second chance; that he was very uncomfortable on horseback due to his urinary complaint and failed even in the second attempt. Peter Heehs has also done Freudian psycho-analysis of the plays and poems of Sri Aurobindo and has come to totally wrong conclusions with regard to Sri Aurobindo’s temperament. Should he be encouraged for this kind of freedom of speech? The book abounds with too many of these distortions, all of which cannot be mentioned here. These have been deliberately concocted by Peter Heehs to denigrate Sri Aurobindo in the eyes of the public. Will the Ashram Trustees keep tolerating these insinuations against our Guru and say that the book is not bad and collect the opinions of ignorant intellectuals to buttress their stand? Even if there is one deliberate distortion by Peter Heehs - who claims to be a disciple of Sri Aurobindo - it should be dealt with in a severe manner and the author should be taken to task. Why do the Ashram Trustees support this stupendous lie? The academicians who have neither read about Sri Aurobindo nor know about his spiritual life may find nothing offensive in the book and even consider it accurate and reliable. But should the devotees who know about it, and especially the protectors of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, allow such perversions to permeate into the minds of the common masses?

There is a deep-rooted, widespread malice subtly working to debase the ideals of Sri Aurobindo! Let people know that the book-issue was apparently dormant for sometime. But now that thousands of devotees have raised their voices and even Members of Parliament have signed a joint letter seeking clarification from the Trustees and are going to raise the matter in the Parliament, the Trustees want to urgently make a public declaration of their “neutral” stand! But neutral they are certainly not! They have been very vindictive towards anybody who has dared to talk about the issue. These two reports in the newspapers are only an eyewash and are meant to increase the Trustees’ credibility in the Court of Law where they are sure to lose the battle. Let the public know that these are like the last efforts of a drowning man trying to keep his head above the water. We pray the Mother to help the Ashram emerge purer from this ordeal; to help the Trustees become guardians of Truth and Light and to help us all overcome the downward pull of our ego and lower nature. Let us all rise to greater heights in the Light and Consciousness of the Divine Mother.

An Observer

14th July, 2012