Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Liberalism is an English tradition

What do we mean by "liberal" here
We live in a world of liberal democracies. You want to undo that?
We are all "Liberals" now. Within the confines of a "Liberal" world, we have :conservatives: and "liberals"
Usually when a right winger uses the term "liberal", I'd agree with you in a western context
But in the Indian context, it is more problematic. Because Hindu-Right has never fully embraced Liberal democracy intellectually
So when "liberal" is used, I don't know which one is it
I'd sort of agree on that for much of H-Right's history...
Am sure Vajapayee, Advani, DDU, Shyama Mukherjee were all Pro-liberal democracy
(Contd..)
Last 5-10 years or so, I see new strands on the internet...
A lot of talk of Dharmika polity as an alternative to "liberal democracy"
I am not against it, because I don't understand what it is..
Not fully
So things like - 
"Free and fair elections", "one person one vote", "equal treatment before law"
Are these consistent with Dharmika principles?
I don't think it can be easily reconciled...that's where it gets problematic
Fair...
But notice one thing - how often "Dharma" is invoked in political contexts in our times
I am rather old fashioned - back in 50s/60s, when ppl used Dharma in ordinary discourse, they largely meant "religion"
E.g. Woh Dharmic kism ke aadmi hai (he is a religious sort)
That's how I always related to the term Dharma...
"Dharmic" meant "being religious"
That's how average Indians use it.
But on twitter it is used differently. To invoke a world view that hopes to rival liberal democracy
And if H-Right's end-game is to undo liberal democracy, sever ties with all those "foreign" political ideas, and build an indigenous political framework based on Kautilya, Manu and others, I am not against that
Except that I dont have a clue how that framework will look and feel
@shrikanth_krish

What exactly is liberal about liberal democracy, due process, votes, equality before law, predate liberalism
I understand that, due process etc predate Hobbes and Locke
But rule by consent is also a traditionalist anglo saxon view predating liberalism
Conventionally that is not regarded as liberalism which starts with Hobbes and Locke with individual as frame of reference

Nope...
We are talking of a different type of liberalism here...
"L"iberalism not progressive politics.
It has its genesis with Machiavelli and Hobbes, with the 1688 revolution being an early milestone
Am talking of the intellectual justification of "rule by consent" as opposed to divine right monarchy
Liberalism's origins are in ancient Anglo Saxon kingdoms..
I don't see Liberalism as a radical innovation. But as an English tradition
Intellectually the formulation happens with Hobbes and Locke
But roots lie much before. Otherwise you won't see Magna Carta being celebrated as much
@shrikanth_krish

Saturday, September 19, 2020

Become free from the legal morality imposed by the British

SN Balgangadhara should be compulsory reading for Indian lawyers and judges. Unless and until they know how we are different from the ones they imitate they can never be useful to Indians ! 
https://t.co/wGzeTbEPuZ
@sankrant
https://twitter.com/Rohits_17/status/1307211405247098880?s=19
Ideas like essential practice, atheism, “purpose of ritual”, superstition etc do not work in the Indian context at all. That is why every attempt by the government to “savage natives” creates more social conflict and corrupts our public discourse. Time to look inwards. @PMOIndia
Ex: In India society learns through mimetic learning. Stories are representational and contain a set of propositions. That is why stories play such an important role in the lives of children who grow up listening to these stories. But what function can stories play in learning ?
But then how do we decide which stories are fit for learning and which are not ? How does the instructional authority come about ? Social, political or economic position has never determined instructional authority in India unlike say in the west or the Islamic world.
Stories are exemplars that are units of mimetic learning. Meaning that exemplars create new action. Just like ideas generate new ideas, actions can inspire new actions. This is the function of stories and that is why they are used as a tool of learning in India. This is profound
All exemplars are context bound. S.N.B writes that “the context dependence of an action is what makes it fertile in different contexts” Hence this kind of learning produces more individual actions, inspired actions and as a consequence novel actions that lead to knowledge.
That is why Ramayan, Mahabharat, the stories of Chanakya, Mahavir, Buddha, Adi Shankara, Rajendra Chola, Kharvel, Etc still are popular among people. They are all exemplars of learning and hence generate new action while people use a discriminatory criteria to decide how to act
Truschke recently made contradictory claims about history ! That is because she does not know what history is nor is there a definition of “history” per se ! She furthers the agenda of those who pay her. Classic case of Varna Sankara ! 
https://t.co/zWc5jUhq7A
How to read Indian texts :
https://t.co/e92ekX2v76 (7 part video series of a workshop held in Kuvempu in Karnataka) ! 
Stop reading interpretations. First read the texts in Sanskrit or preferrably in your mother tongue.

Nice thread on the western rule based systems of law vs. the Indian story based systems of justice. Good explanation of the work of SN Balagangadhara, on how and why justice is denied in India.
https://twitter.com/vakibs/status/1307242905900285952?s=19
This is my short essay on the same point. I don’t know when India will ever become free from this legal morality imposed by the British, and adjudicated in the colonial English language.
https://t.co/XHgM3aBDuq
From a computer science and AI perspective, western systems of law and morality are like rule-based AI expert systems, whereas the Indian model of justice is like training a neural network through examples (stories). The second model is context-aware and generalizes better.
Rule based expert systems are completely overturned in AI through learning based systems. It is only a matter of time that they are similarly overturned in the domain of legal code. Stories are far better methods for both communicating and interpreting justice, than legal code.

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Savitri Era Party pursues human unity

The open letter by some prominent intellectuals  in @Harpers does make sense.

It is an appeal to all, and not just Trump & his friends, to not stifle free speech under some or the other pretext.
Free speech is the lifeblood of democracy. 
https://t.co/u88KyGmE42
https://twitter.com/CholericCleric/status/1280688188135276544?s=19

"I think it is very natural for everyone to want to see their ancestors and their nation as heroic. And if you can’t do heroic, then the move is to see yourself and your nation as a victim."
Sound familiar? 
https://t.co/AbsKkogwEc
https://twitter.com/peterheehs/status/1280830663201980416?s=19

Don't read lte tetter read this from @OsitaNwanevu  https://t.co/TUJh8jHOXJ
https://twitter.com/TheSamhita/status/1280837214268727297?s=19

The Roman historian Tacitus, on life under the deadening weight of tyranny https://t.co/IDRGH3rHBu
https://twitter.com/WarOnTheRocks/status/1280149549311569921?s=19

Ridiculous & shocking that @INCIndia is forcing its party members to wear RFID tags & tracking their movements. Immoral & unethical surveillance of cadres by leadership of #Congress
https://twitter.com/rvp/status/1280787027869331456?s=19

As poets, academics, journalists, authors, students, and assorted other dissenters are jailed across India, we must at least lend them a ear. Priya Ramani reads letters, poetry, books & notes from prison.
https://t.co/BrDA6dEqwm
https://twitter.com/samar11/status/1280766238201835520?s=19

Unmasking Freedom - Israel Shamir  -https://t.co/owWpQVlS44 via @vijayvaani
https://twitter.com/vijayvaani/status/1280699500491796480?s=19


Two RW experts were debating US politics yesterday but the reality is otherwise. Political and cultural chasm is too wide to be wished away. Chinese scenario, on the other hand, is much nearer in spite of the present hostilities. Geographical contiguity has many other advantages.
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1279085920373764097?s=19
At this point when a pandemic is obdurate, the humanity must stand as one. The human race is one in spite of conflicts between govts. The Mother & Sri Aurobindo stand for harmony and peace and not agression. Those who portray Sri Aurobindo in their pet muscular image are mistaken.
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1280354856205598725?s=19
It's not very difficult to perceive that there is Democracy and transparency deficit at present but this is not the time to critically examine the govt. Hunger for optics and political mileage will always be there but then they are part of the package. jingoism too is undesirable
The Ideal of Human Unity is most pertinent at the moment. #COVID19 is also forcing local autonomy which may lead to Sovereignty to the States of India. #WorldUnion too can take a definite shape. Savitri Era Religion will play an important role in this wide-ranging transformation.
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1280674895869833216?s=19

First codification; then implementation. First laying down the tenets and then following them. Thus be it Quality or Dharma, the blueprint is essential for building. Domain knowledge, therefore, is crucial; respecting it essential. This is the lesson number One of Dharma practice https://t.co/XAXTE5irXJ
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1272786045797494785?s=19

Savitri Era Learning Forum (SELF): Free speech is the lifeblood of Democracy https://t.co/yf9TS2duFJ
"Optimism bias" makes one think one is excluded from potential negative effects.
Assorted Tweets collated by @NathTusar #SriAurobindo #FiveDreams #WorldUnion Also at @ElymentsApp https://t.co/BCsFfR01Sp

Sunday, March 8, 2020

The Human Cycle has solutions to present problems

Sir, the Asura has to be fought and in fact Mother Sri Aurobindo fought the bloodiest war to stop him. When the Mother duped Hitler into Eastern campaign it resulted in the greatest number of deaths & atrocities that have yet to be equaled in annals of warfare.
https://twitter.com/auroviryavaan/status/1235244627378266114?s=19
Even now China has been able to control the Coronavirus by extreme & brutal measures which, if it had not implemented, would have resulted in millions others suffering worldwide... there is no escaping the law of force. Any attempt to prematurely circumvent will only boomerang.
I can tell u 1 thing coming from a Westernized background  that the more I encounter the traditions & forms & practices of the giant body of Hindu traditions be it Yoga, ayurveda, veda, devalaya, mantra, even Varna the more I find powers & truths beyond limitations of modernity.
I do not therefore today judge Hindu traditions from a modern pov but vice-versa. I do not deny there is a great utility in all that modernity bestows but its value is infinitesimal compared to the hidden intuitive pearls that litter the whole Hindu civilizational complex.
With due respect the village is hardly the acme of Indian civilization. That sounds more like Gandhian idealism which romanticized the village. I am not talking abt village but all the various cultural artifacts & treasures, too numerous to enumerate, some which i cited earlier.
Yes the main question is WHAT is going to be stabilized? If he is simply providing a corruption-free poorly-performing Hindu-averse secular socialist Congress-ideology govt then he is STABILIZING and PERPETUATING the very problem he was elected to change in the first place.
https://twitter.com/auroviryavaan/status/1234654190699450370?s=19
This wud be suicidal for both BJP & India. BJP is not merely a secular Cong clone. Its sole purpose for existence is the liberation of the Hindu nation from the parasitical & life-stealing secular Leftism bent upon de-Hinduizing & destroying it even if it means Islamizing it.
Yes in the play of forces Modi has part to play his & others of us have ours to play too. The role that Modi inhabits, the power that is in his hands is too great to be allowed to go waste. As Arjuna had his choice NOT to do his dharma Modi has too. That is why he must be opposed.
Not at all subjective. Not in the least. The prblm is that the subjective obscures us from the objective. We r too full, too crammed with all the material that has been pumped into our brains which gives us a false sense of "knowledge". This "subjectivitiy" is what veils our view
Agreed on the faith part. Only thru Grace of Mother Sri Aurobindo I have w/out asking experienced 1st hand a fraction of the verities encapsulated & transmitted to us in form of traditions. Only then I realized that the mental "knowledge" I had was the actual unseeing ignorance.

I didn't know my gender, caste, race, religion, region, language, nationality, or blood type when I was born nor had any hand in choosing them. Yet, social existence depends so much upon them and their ossification. The Mother is a symbol for transcending all these constructions.
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1236619667793309696?s=19
Efforts of the last seventy years have evaporated. Why? It's not easy to diagnose and therefore it's likely to fester. Sri Aurobindo talked about these a hundred years back. The Human Cycle is a classic which has solutions to many problems of the present. https://t.co/258htdcrnn
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1236239592589635584?s=19
Not enough to be proud of Konark temple alone. How to build the future is very important. There are professionals and experts but there is a lack of thinkers. All have a responsibility to build a hatred-free society. #SriAurobindo helps in the growth of all aspects of personality.
Please look around you. The level of education may have increased to some extent, but ignorance is spreading. Everyone is ready to bow before tradition and worship superstition. Prosperity has made people inactive, the brain lazy. #SriAurobindo is the cure for all these diseases.
Sounds rhetorical but this is the crux of the problem, especially, after advent of Hindutva and its harnessing for capturing power. That it won't introduce a slew of anomalies is to be naive. In Sri Aurobindo's writings we don't find this dichotomy but now one has to be cautious.
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1236626981581512706?s=19
Agree wholeheartedly and I apply whatever little I understand of Humanities when I write here. My opinion doesn't match with anyone else but I'm helpless about it. So, don't worry, no one is taking my words seriously; at least there's no evidence of it till now.
#SriAurobindo
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1234152527442124801?s=19
Savitri Era: Sanskrit texts don't contain self-evident truth https://t.co/MOEduRHsek
#SavitriEra of those who adore
Om #SriAurobindo & #TheMother
https://t.co/upjH4BU1Q1
https://t.co/JJS7HM0DGn
https://t.co/9IaBwJNfVI
https://t.co/BA3NuhB6Lq
Tusar Nath Mohapatra @NathTusar (SELF)

Sri Aurobindo considers Nation-ego as false subjectivism, which thrusts one's superiority in the name of national pride. The Nation-soul, is true subjectivism, which attempts to capture one's traditional heritage and values not as compensation for real or imagined injuries.
https://twitter.com/Nimai_Swain/status/1234174704820219909?s=19

Everyone else gets a religion, Hindus get only culture.
Everyone else gets a life, Hindus get only a way of life.
https://twitter.com/entropied/status/1236582513100746753?s=19

Every great movement is born from the cauldron of forces that can’t be controlled entirely..for each idealist and strategists there will be a hundred hotheads on ground..against the prevailing cult like liberal and desert narratives hindus are bound to break a few eggs.
And to follow Sri Aurobindo is not given to the meek or the lazy..individuals and society must have attempted and exhausted their lesser ideals..the Arjuna moment of despair for a newer ideal must emerge organically..for thus alone will the new light take deep roots...
A premature caution, a too eager morality is what Arjuna fell for, and what the Godhead reasoned and absolved him of..a timid sword arm withheld by morality is a double whammy..which is what Hindus have been reduced by/to..the Kshatriya in us must relearn power and honour first..
https://twitter.com/kalisbrood/status/1236650491683069954?s=19
Sir, please desist. What you are saying goes against the very foundational edict of the Gita...it adharma has infested neighbours or friends or even family then it has to be dealt with...you just don’t seem to know what forces you are aiding..stop please...
Proves you neither understand Gita not even the rudimentary of sadhana...may the Divine save those who value your words..and no, Auroville is not a superfluous feel good venture initiated by the Mother..it’s a mighty leap into the future meant for heroes of Spirit..
https://twitter.com/kalisbrood/status/1234150473965326337?s=19

🌾Sri Aurobindo wrote in his letter to his wife Mrinalini that he had three madnesses . First ,all his knowledge ,genius and material possessions were God's These hd to be returned to God after providing  for the family . Second he wanted to see God .He hd realized that what -
https://twitter.com/uttrashada/status/1236571238887088129?s=19
that what the Hindu religion had said was true . Third he looked upon his country as the Mother . He worshipped Her as the Mother . He asked what a son would do if a DEMON sat on his mother's breast and started sucking Her blood -Sri Aurobindo 🙏🚩🙏🚩

India is a rare nation in which the country itself is worshipped as the Divine Mother, Bharat Mata, Vande Mataram. This worship of Mother India goes back thousands of years, long before any nation states existed. #InternationalWomensDay
https://twitter.com/davidfrawleyved/status/1236492069432102913?s=19

This is how Sri Aurobindo retains the incantatory rhythm of Sanskrit in his English. The rhetoric used in the passage has a technical name: Anaphora. The repetition of a word at the start of a line or sentence or a cluster of clauses.
https://twitter.com/GoutamGhosal3/status/1236483894603419648?s=19

Dr faustus🙏🙏European mind is far more yogic than her Indian counterpart, society & religion do not represent yoga, individualism or inversion towards own self is the very first step, that Europe has taken & nurtured through last few centuries. India remains lost in very first stair. https://t.co/Ev9G73ZoJE
https://twitter.com/iridines/status/1235723420140068864?s=19

All of us in our paksha need do our research properly or stop using the word 'only' willy-nilly if one is using it without due diligence https://t.co/QAguMN4uSg
https://twitter.com/ArmchairPseph/status/1236690844226330625?s=19

One of the misleading things I find in many pop sci books is the presumption of incrementalism -- that the addition of a new dimension to the cosmic picture is simply an extension of the old cosmic picture by addition. No. It's a transformation of the entire *Gestalt*.
https://twitter.com/fourfoldvision/status/1236685506018074624?s=19
Just so that we are clear about the sources of this structure, it's Rene Descartes' own method symbolised, which is also perspectivising https://t.co/45vhw8yPEU
https://twitter.com/fourfoldvision/status/1236680376510083074?s=19
This strange (and absurd) logo, more than anything, expresses what is defective about the modern triangulating logic and triadic consciousness structure (the perspectival or mental-rational). https://t.co/nvl02CxKTy
https://twitter.com/fourfoldvision/status/1236678664298749954?s=19

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Growing respect for Sri Aurobindo

Brit imperialism had a strong racist component.That CPI was claiming 2 do freedom fight while being directed by the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) tells that the Comrades had swallowed the Brit racist theory in full.Colonized minds can only betray https://t.co/XK5yw003As
https://twitter.com/sarkar_swati/status/1231982740905525248?s=19
The Communist Party of Gr8 Brit (CPGB) was particularly close 2 the Bombay wing of the CPI. A founder member of the CPGB,Shapurji Saklatvala, was 4m the Tata family of Bombay. The Bombay wing dominated CPI thru  the freedom struggle (which CPI betrayed):  https://t.co/XK5yw003As

On the Freudian unconscious...
× Jacques Lacan ~ knowledge which doesn’t know itself
× Zizek ~ symbolically articulated knowledge ignored by subject
× Don Rumsfeld ~ unknown knowns
https://twitter.com/KS1729/status/1232005953983303681?s=19
[kind of extraordinary so many ideas of 20thC trace their origins to Freud's writings]
Freud and an India connection https://t.co/qU58jOUY8c
Two descriptions on how to be...
Christ to apostles:"...be wise as serpents & gentle as doves"
Auden on Freud: "who remembers like the old & is honest like children"
a man studies Freud for forty years, writes a book about him. he begins by relying on these two great experts of the human mind https://t.co/lMndc4akCd

Savitri Era Party is an attempt to grow awareness about Sri Aurobindo and develop respect towards him. Right now, he is largely unknown; and even for those who know, is to no avail. This is the factual situation and there's no evidence to the contrary. Yet, sudden change possible
Poets and philosophers are remembered in all cultures but language poses a barrier in India. Since Sri Aurobindo wrote in English, he is not easily accepted as their own in any region. But his neutral stand on religion can prove to be the panacea for the present political impasse
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1231933461155504128?s=19
Abnormal level of population in India and its geographical vastness and diversity is inflicting enormous hardship upon its inhabitants. Minor incidents in one corner is keeping its entire population tense. A family splits when it grows too big. So Sovereignty to States is a must.
Huge territory may be satisfactory for immature adolescents but lots of people are put to difficulty due to being uprooted, long travel, away from home, linguistically alienated, or culturally strangulated. Psychological factors must receive attention and deserved consideration.
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1231949343265107969?s=19

Marketime: Sri Aurobindo, Pal, Tagore, Gandhi, and Savarkar https://t.co/Yk8Uy6Mcpb @NathTusar
#SriAurobindo's salience https://t.co/upjH4BU1Q1
https://t.co/YGoEhdLyp7
https://t.co/9IaBwJNfVI
https://t.co/BA3NuhB6Lq
Savitri Era of those who adore,
Om Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.

Scripturalizing the Human: The Written as the Political - Page 118
https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=1317418220
Vincent L. Wimbush - 2015 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
9 We should avoid the temptation to draw the similarities between the modern and the nonmodern on the basis of a symmetrical anthropology à la Bruno Latour (2010) and its reconceptualization by Isabelle Stengers (2010–2011, 2: 303 and  ...

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Civilizational unity is not identical to political unity

Civilizational unity is not identical to political unity - Example is Politically disunited Canada and USA coming together to crush Nazis, in defence of Western values. 
Another example: Politically United USSR splitting inspite of strict political unity under KGB
https://twitter.com/freemarkets5/status/1229836414134583296?s=19

My @HarvardHBS living group is blown by case study on Mumbai’s Dabbawallahs. Can’t fathom how they achieve Six Sigma Just In Time supply chain management without using tech. Sometimes we take things around us for granted. Next time I see a Dabbawallah, I will doff my Gandhi cap. https://t.co/nDapWKyMXO
https://twitter.com/rahulkanwal/status/1230336767812726784?s=19

Sir I did my masters from @fore_delhi in 2002 one of top most marketing schools and we did detailed study about mumbai dabbawallah management system then... and also in 2006 when I did my six sigma green belt then also same study was there..so need to upgrade yourself with time
https://twitter.com/SandeepN9NE/status/1230426389406310400?s=19

The perversion of the revolutionaries from fighting the British to becoming British lackeys was done in a very subtle manner by Communists. Tactics used were similar to those used by Sufis to convert Hindus to Islam, as @sarkar_swati @dikgaj and I show. https://t.co/xMMFnhly7f
https://twitter.com/maidros78/status/1230291563089035265?s=19

The world has had only half a dozen successful revolutions
and most even of these were very like failures; yet it is by great & noble failures that humanity advances.- 
Sri Aurobindo
https://twitter.com/WelcomeSacar/status/1230357341159084033?s=19

Love has a place in politics, but it is the love for one’s country, for one’s countrymen, for the glory, greatness and happiness of the race, the divine ananda of self-immolation for one’s fellows... the ecstasy of relieving their sufferings, the joy of seeing one’s blood flow for country and freedom, the bliss of union in death with the fathers of the race.
#SriAurobindo #IntegralYoga https://t.co/uNhp5XqmT7
https://twitter.com/integralyog/status/1230299924522315776?s=19

A thread from Rosenberg & Birdzell’s “How the West grew rich” (1985):
“..the dominant fact about economic institutions that emerged in Europe after the decline of feudalism is their wholly pragmatic character & their lack of ideological commitment to any economic principle..” 1/n
https://twitter.com/acorn/status/1230338907578875904?s=19
“Neither the Communist Manifesto nor Das Capital employed the term capitalism, although Marx did use it in 1877 in correspondence...its first use in the sense of an economic system was in Better Times, a book by Douai in 1884.” 4/n
“The system that generated Western economic growth evolved before it was recognized as a system or advocated as an ideology...” 2/n
Practice precedes theory. That’s the insight in this.

Theology follows success.
https://twitter.com/sonaliranade/status/1230340442190794753?s=19

Assuming a theory vacuum before a particular date is perhaps not accurate. Darwin's theory of Evolution also begins at the middle alerts Sri Aurobindo and goes on to complete the cycle by incorporating Involution. Rothbard's portrayal of man and purpose of action too is inchoate.
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1230426596999385096?s=19
Savitri Era: Self-interest acquires spontaneity, luminosity, and sublimity https://t.co/PXkfRHAk0h @NathTusar Tusar Nath Mohapatra, Director, Savitri Era Learning Forum, Shipra Riviera, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad - 201014 #SriAurobindo #FiveDreams #WorldUnion #SavitriEra #MitraVaruna
Savitri Era: Babaji Maharaj's Ayodhya connection https://t.co/pN0uhTzbr7 @NathTusar
[Auro-Mira Service Society decided to work in Kechla as its field of karmayoga, a necessary component part of the Integral Yoga sadhana of #SriAurobindo and the Mother.] https://t.co/mn1MwNVNZG