Topic started by Vishvesh (@ ip134.garden-city3.ny.pub-ip.psi.net) on Wed Jul 5 15:52:51 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Hi all,
One of the finest books that has been ever written on Indian civilization is "Foundations of Indian Culture" by Sri Aurobindo. But even among his own admirers this book is least recognized. Perhaps, it could be because he is more known as a Yogi. But anyway, this book is very important because he tries to look at the values of Indian civilization with the clarity and intelligence that comes when one masters a process of thought alone (in Aurobindo Ghosh's case, he had mastered the whole of European thought even before he started learning Indian languages and about India). He has the creative mind too in him and hence he is able to look at critically (without sentimenalizing or giving any undue values) the essential values of Indian civilization. Hope to see a thread of discussion on this great book.
vishvesh

Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: pm (@ 202.88.236.2) on: Sat Mar 10 21:05:17
  
  Dear Vishvesh,
  I have read Aurobindo's one particular statement wherein he has stated that both Tamil and Sanskrit descended from a common source,,,,he has told that certain missing links in sanskrit he has found them in Tamil.
  
  
• From: ramya (@ 203.197.160.102) on: Tue Mar 13 00:07:30
  
  Vishvesh,
  
  "When I started this discussion I never thought I would be entering into a forum where assumptions took greater importance than intelligence. I really don't care for the distinctions of Dravidian or Aryan Cultures. To me, even if assuming that they were two entirely different races of mankind, they still have had some very common traces that made them classified into a homogenous whole : the "Indian" in his basic sense. I would stick on to it and wouldn't meaninglessly politicize the issue. I don't see any great difference in the poetic sensibility of Kambar or Thiruvalluvar with that of Kalidasa or Valmiki; the same breath of life I do find in our religious manifestation and in every other walk of social life too. As much as I love Tamil, it makes me equally rever the other forms of the Indian's innate expressions through the other classical languages with which it has shared the living breath of Indian-ness. And I would dare say that I am not ashamed to say that my forefathers were in essense who imbibed the "Indian" sense in them that we see manifested in all the outward forms of expressions seen all over the length and breath of India and not senselessly confined to a part of it alone.
  
  I care for the achievements that we as a country could make and I am sorry to see such discriminations marring our perception..."
  
  This is from one one of your earlier postings. One could'nt have made this point any clearer. Kudos!
  
  I've yet to understand what these propagandists of differences of race (aryan and dravidian) and culture are trying to emphasise or achieve in a country that has mixed with one another for so many thousands of years.
  
  Anyway, I wonder what they have to say in the light of the findings of the Genome Project that 99.99% of all humans races are similar implying that we have all evolved from one common mother probably from Africa.
  
  
  
  
  
• From: Latha Mahadevan (@ ) on: Sat Feb 2 10:06:31
  
  There is a contemporary researcher on India who hs written somewhere that Indian thought had to be rescued from the witchcraft of the Western interpreters ! A string statement but nonetheless true. The book of Sri Aurobindo is a landmark book as it has neutralised the so called witchcraft of the cunning and arrogant western thinkers of those days. Today mush of what he writes might sound irrelevant but that he rescued Indian thought from being played about with the Western interpretation of our culture should be remembered. His work should be viewed as tremendously important for all of us Indians to recover our lost pride.
  
  
• From: Srini (@ 61.11.72.44) on: Mon Feb 4 04:25:25
  
  Vishvesh:
  
  I agree with ramya. You write really well. The thought process is refreshing and language is of high decorum. Of course, other hubbers have also done a good job in this thread. Though I bought that book, I have had glimpes though read only 1/15th of it so far, with other books on Metaphysics etc competing to take my time !!
  
  For one, I am glad Aurobindo chose to spend his valuable time in writing that book as a rejoinder. Excessive self abasement is not going to help any civilization, while regular introspection certainly does. As a nation we owe our gratitude to Aurobindo to have come to its defence in a objective fashion.
  
  However, on the other issue of 'Indian' as representing only 'Vedanta' and not paying due obeisance to other cultures, it's a subject best sorted by historians who are still debating on AIT Vs. OIT etc. My personal opinion is cultures other than Vedic are certianly a part of Indian Spiritual pantheon and the ours could be a unique nation in which there has been no 'Core'/ 'Nucleus' and it's live, vibrant cytoplasm throught its body.
  
  For instance, most westerners, even Indians, beleive that Indian Vedanta is all about 'Advaita' or Non-Dualistic Monism. Whereas Dwaitam (Dualism) and Visishtadvaitam (Qualified Dualism) are not as monistic and takes life as real and not as 'illusion'. So, any reference to India as a land of Advaita will not represent 'Core' philosophy, because diametrically opposite view pilosophies have emerged from the same BrahmaSutras of Veda. So much for divisions even within Vedic Hinduism. Not to speak of the possibility of other philosophies that never borrowed or originated from Veda. No individual, however well read, can try to do justice to all such philosophies and 'ways of life' in one book. To that extent, holding Aurobindo in contempt for furthering one at the cost of other may not be a right protest.
  
  He had a mandate, and he fulfilled it. Other scholars too have mandates. Any scholar fulfilling his/her mandates, deserve honour. Tomorrow it could be that of a scholar who may establish the non-Vedic culture and its supremacy over Vedic religion/philosophy.
  
  
• From: Vishvesh Obla (@ alb-66-24-214-34.nycap.rr.com) on: Mon Feb 4 09:49:57
  
  Hi Srini,
  
  It is good to read, on a Monday morning, something that has held your interest. It is nice to see this thread again (I thought it was lost). I am glad to know that you made an attempt to read this great work. More than knowing the issues of our obscure past, it is for a mental exercise in developing saner thinking habits, I return to this book frequently. It is not a History book, Pal. But it gives you an approach, a much saner approach that has been attempted as yet, to look at cultural phenomena. I mean ‘cultural phenomena’ and not just Indian past because this is precisely the kind of discipline you see in some of the greatest writers when they are engaged in such an enquiry. I am sure you would ask how could it be a sane exercise, when it could be factually incorrect. I can’t answer to your satisfaction to such a question, for my acquaintance with literature has given me a very different perception of how a ‘fact’ is actually perceived today by our thinking habits, and we would be at loggerheads and never get into an agreement there. Anyway, I am glad to see your comment, for it shows a fine maturity that comes out of good reading habits. I wrote a paper sometime back on this book. I don’t know if it would be related to your interests or not, but anyway, I will upload it for you at:
  http://www.angelfire.com/vi/vishvesh/Literary_Evaluation.htm
  
  
  
• From: Srini (@ 61.11.72.44) on: Mon Feb 4 23:31:25
  
  Hello Vishvesh:
  
  >>I am sure you would ask how could it be a sane exercise, when it could be factually incorrect<<
  
  No. I too don't look upon every book to be factually correct. It just has to be honest. I beleive there is a difference between being factually correct and being honest, in that the latter hinges more on 'intent' than empirical substantiations.
  
  You are right, it takes more effort and discipline to write a book in right earnest, with positive energy that will ring in goodness in the hearts of people who read it. Writing self-deprecatingly, without honesty, is rather easy. Even an inanimate thing like electricity flows through the easiest path. An animate social being like Man should, of course, attempt something more lofty.
  
  Also, no one person is capable of writing a 'factual history of everything'. That's the job of editors, not writers. So, if Aurobindo misses certain issues and other cultures, it may not be due to negligence or indifference, it could just be out of limitations on his physical/ intellectual energy. To not hold something in contempt, without a valid reason, is by itself a measure of honesty.
  
  I am reading your Literary Evaluation, and without your permission, have copied and saved in a Notepad to read more leisurely later. It's a well written tribute, even by a cursory glance.
  
  More than your language, I am amazed to see the degree of tranquility you seem to enjoy, and I envy that. My mind is terribly disturbed most of the time, and perhaps as a result of this, there is no cogent idea or discipline that I follow. Thanks for introducing that book, which I am sure I'll certainly finish reading sooner than later.
  
  
• From: Vishvesh Obla (@ alb-66-24-214-34.nycap.rr.com) on: Tue Feb 5 10:40:24
  
  Hi Srini,
  
  It is always a pleasure to read your messages. Well, I don’t see any traces of a disturbed personality in you. If at all you believe to have any, that must be the normal disturbance of the mind getting sensitized to learning. I liked very much the way you made the distinction between being factual and being honest. I have no problem with you saving that article. I would only suggest you to save it as a HTML file straight from the browser instead of saving it in a notepad. You could retain the italics and footnotes which would not be possible when you save it through notepad. Without the Italics you wouldn’t know the actual passages of Sri Aurobindo.
  
  
• From: santosh (@ 209.137.67.3) on: Sat Feb 23 11:45:46
  
  srini:
  I think you didn't read that book properly or fully. I don't think aurobindo asserts that India's past had its origin in vedanta alone. He was not such a crude scholar to make any such assertion. I read this book one year back and I don't remember its full details. vish could probably remember it. I agree with him fully that its value lies in bringing to light some basic principles of our spirituality and not in any factual understanding of our past. I also agree with latha mahadevan that this wonderful book restored our faith in our own past.
  
  As to ur comment of another scholar fulfilling a mandate of establishing a non-vedic point of view in the future, it is perfectly okay as long as the writer establishes it with the kind of standards that Aurobindo has held in this book. This book, as vish made me understand some time back, shows first of all what kind of standards a writer needs to have to look at culture and civilization so that he can talk sensibly on it. I read Nehru's "Discovery of India" as per his suggestion after I read this book and I found a mountain of a difference. There lies this book's value. It shows you clearly as to how we could look sensibly at Indias past.
  
  

Want to post a response?