-003_The Current Hindu Upsurge in Sri Aurobindo^s Light.htm One The Current Hindu Upsurge in Sri Aurobindo's Light There is undoubtedly a Hindu upsurge in the country today. But whether we seize the tide at its flood and use it to bring about a spiritual renaissance or let it peter out into a mere religious revival will decide the future of this country. There are many who see this upsurge as a strong mandate for a religious revival which, they hope, will lift the country from its present lackadaisical and self-destructive ways and put it on the path to fulfilment and glory. Ranged against them are those who decry the whole phenomenon as a regressive and unhealthy development.1 Many in thi

Four Acting on the World: The Unfinished Agenda of Spirituality I wish to discuss here a new spirituality, a spirituality which has discarded its old limitations and inhibitions but still draws on its ancient roots and whose aim is the perfection of human life on earth. Sri Aurobindo and his collaborator the Mother were the pioneers of this new spirituality. They have been, in my opinion, the greatest revolutionaries in the spiritual annals of mankind. The intellectual elite in many parts of the world have already taken note of their contribution. The time has surely come for us as Indians to throw away the coloured glasse

Two Can India Ever be Great Again? 1 When the Soviet Union disintegrated some years ago, Francis Fukuyama, a political scientist, interpreted this as the "the end of History"1. By this he meant that liberal democracy with the United States as its flag-bearer had ultimately triumphed over rival ideologies like monarchy, fascism and now even communism. This was therefore the endpoint of mankind's ideological evolution. But the United States is a superpower in the outer world only since its wealth hides a spiritual poverty and growing psychological and social unrest. We are living in a spiritually troubled age and no mere technological s

Six Two Perspectives on Man and His Future The 20th century might well be described as the age of historical pessimism, of an all-pervading sense of anxiety, frustration, mal-adjustment and inner disintegration. Some of our deepest thinkers have concluded that there is no such thing as history, that is, no meaningful order can be seen in the broad sweep of human events. The English poet Auden described the modern man's profound sense of restlessness and frustration in his Age of Anxiety in these words: ... crazed we come and coarsened we go Our wobbling way: there's white silence Of antiseptics and instruments At both ends

-005_In Matter shall be lit the spirit^s glow.htm Three "In Matter shall be lit the spirit's glow" There is a school of thought that holds that spirituality-is the master key of the Indian mind, and that India can best develop herself and serve humanity by drawing on her unparalleled spiritual legacy. This, I must admit, is not a point of view that finds favour with a large section of the opinion makers in the country. For them, spirituality is either religiosity of some sort, or else some kind of vague mystical predilection. According to many liberal thinkers, spirituality is a regressive state of mind because it turns its face away from the world and its challenges. Therefore they regar

Five Sri Aurobindo and the Indian Intelligentsia The Indian intelligentsia of the last half a century has had many problems with Sri Aurobindo. Unlike many others, he refused to exchange our old Indian illuminations, however dark they may have grown to us, for a derivative European enlightenment. Not only did he reject the superstitions of popular Hinduism he also rejected the superstitions of materialistic science. Although educated in the West, he was not blind to a fatal limitation to its power and thought — the tendency to regard spirituality as "a riddle, nebulous metaphysics, yogic hallucination".1 He was a champion of the spiritu

Preface This is a collection of six essays all of which took shape originally as lectures to be delivered on certain formal occasions or at conferences. Most of these essays deal with issues currently being debated in the media and in seminars and conferences at various places in the country. A debate becomes richer if there are several perspectives to consider. It is my feeling that the spiritual perspective has not received much attention in these discussions. I have tried to project that perspective through these six essays. Some of these talks have subsequently been published in journals. I am grateful to those who sponsored the original lectures and also to t

To be guided by the spiritual ideal is the very opposite of regarding this life as a temporal vanity. Spirituality does not oblige us to become monastic ascetics since it aims at perfection of life on earth. Equally unfounded is the assumption that spirituality means the moulding of the whole type of national being to suit the limited dogmas, forms, and tenets of a particular religion. Such an attempt would not only be undesirable but also impossible in India—a country full of the most diverse religious opinions. In fact, spirituality is the only way of coping with a plurality of religions. Spirituality does not oblige us to exclude anything whatsoever from our sc