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Thread: Assorted Material on the Bengal Shakta Nationalists

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    Assorted Material on the Bengal Shakta Nationalists


    The Mother Is Thirsty!
    Offer sacrifice to me. Give for I am thirsty. Seeing me,
    know and adore the original Power, ranging here as
    Kàlí, who . . . hungers to enjoy the heads of bodies of
    mighty rulers.
    Sri Aurobindo, “Bhavani Bharati”]


    Their Sanskrit oath, probably written by Aurobindo, took the form of a Vedic
    sacrificial hymn. Invoking Varuna, Agni and other deities . . . bowing down
    to the ideal heroes of India that sacrificed their lives to save the motherland
    . . . the oath-takers poured their hatred and shame into the fire . . .
    to save the country. Renouncing all life’s pleasures, they vowed to dedicate
    themselves to the establishment of the Dharma Rajya [Righteous Kingdom].
    . . . Then bowing to a sword, crown of all weapons, the symbol of
    death, they lifted it up in the name of the Adya Shakti (original Energy,
    conceived as the Goddess Kàl&#237.

    The public voice of the movement was communicated through the Calcutta
    newspapers Bandemataram, to which Aurobindo was a regular contributor,
    and the more radical Jugantar, begun by Aurobindo’s brother,
    Barin. The latter openly preached revolution and subversion of British
    authority. Calling the Bengali youth to give themselves in “sacrificial
    death” to the nationalist cause, the newspaper gave precise directions as
    to how one should start a secret terrorist organization and carry out terrorist
    activities.

    Nationalism is not a mere political program; Nationalism is a religion
    that has come from God. Nationalism is a creed which you shall have
    to live. . . . If you are to be Nationalist . . . you must do it in the religious
    spirit. . . . It is not by any mere political programme . . . that this country
    can be saved. . . . What is the one thing needful? . . . the idea that there is
    a Power at work to help India, that we are doing what God bids us.


    Rise up, O sons of India, arm yourselves with bombs, dispatch
    the white Asuras to Yama’s abode. Invoke the Mother
    Kali. . . . The Mother asks for sacrificial offerings. What does
    the Mother want? . . . A fowl or sheep or buffalo? No. She
    wants many white Asuras. The Mother is thirsting after the
    blood of the Feringhees. . . . [C]hant this verse while slaying
    the Feringhee white goat: with the close of a long era, the
    Feringhee Empire draws to an end, for behold! Kali rises in
    the East.
    Jugantar, Bengali newspaper (1905)

    On the day on which the Mother is worshipped in every
    village, on that day the people of India will be inspired
    with a divine spirit and the crown of independence will
    fall into their hands.
    Jugantar (1905)

    Nationalism is an avatàr that cannot be slain. Nationalism
    is a divinely appointed shakti of the Eternal and
    must do its God-given work before it returns to the
    bosom of Universal Energy from which it came.
    Sri Aurobindo, quoted in Iyengar, Sri Aurobindo (1950)

    In the first era of the dissemination of English culture . . .
    Bengal resounded with opprobrious criticisms of the
    Tantras. No one among the educated in Bengal could
    praise them. . . . The educated Bengali of the age was
    bewitched by the Christian culture, and . . . any who
    attempted to study the Tantras ran the risk of exposing
    themselves to contumely from the educated community.
    Panchkori Bandyopadhyay, Sàhitya (1913)

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    Re: Assorted Material on the Bengal Shakta Nationalists

    aurobindo was not shakta . this is not shakta nationalism . there is nothing like shakta nationalism .
    all typical bengali nationalism of the day indentified desha with mother goddess and seeked to invigorate the masses by stirring their relgious spirit , which in case of bengal was mostly mother goddess .

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Last edited by satay; 05 July 2010 at 01:13 AM. Reason: rest of the post had nothing to do with OP.
    na kAshthe vidyate devo na shilAyam kadAchana
    bhAve hi vidyate devas-tasmAd-bhAvam samAcharet

  3. #3

    Re: Assorted Material on the Bengal Shakta Nationalists

    Quote Originally Posted by Claim View Post
    aurobindo was not shakta . this is not shakta nationalism . there is nothing like shakta nationalism .


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Quote Originally Posted by Refutation
    all typical bengali nationalism of the day indentified desha with mother goddess and seeked to invigorate the masses by stirring their relgious spirit , which in case of bengal was mostly mother goddess .
    You do a good job of refuting yourself.

    But in seriousness, you perhaves wanted to say Aurobindo was not religiously a shakta and the bengal nationalism did not have much to do with the Shakta Religion (i.e Tantra) except for the spirit of divine feminine. That is a fair comment, although, the spirit of divine faminine is enough to qualify it as shakta.

    The bengal nationalism was ofcourse more driven by somewhat rational expectations of freedom on which western education of its key figures had good influence.
    What is Here, is Elsewhere. What is not Here, is Nowhere.

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    Re: Assorted Material on the Bengal Shakta Nationalists

    If a secret militant nationalists group worships the Astra of Kali and glorifies Kshatriya Dharma during their "diksha" that alone qualifies as shakta for me. Secret circles of actual tantrics certainly existed within and empowered the more secular members. By the way Aurobindo was also a tantric shakta, he did not broadcast that too loud though, i don´t know of his earlier associations but later he associated with a Guru from the sri kula parampara that goes back to the famous Bhaskararaja.

    Although Aurobindo would later deny his involvement with the radical actions
    of the Jugantar group, his brother Barindra and other members
    clearly regarded him as its founder, chief inspiration, and karta, or boss.
    Throughout these organizations, there were often deep connections
    between Shàkta Tantra and revolutionary politics. Much of the impetus
    for the secret groups came from the well-known novel of Bankim Chandra
    Chatterjee, Änandamatah—the story of a group of revolutionary sannyàsís
    (renunciants, ascetics) and devotees of the Mother Goddess who
    hope to overthrow Muslim rule in Bengal. Inspired by Bankim’s work,
    Aurobindo and others deployed a network of secret organizations in order
    to work behind the scenes toward an armed revolution. As Kees Bolle,
    Leonard Gordon, and others have observed, the revolutionaries explicitly
    appropriated many structures of Shakta Tantra, adapting “neo-Tantric
    rituals” and initiations to the service of building up an underground
    revolutionary organization. “Shakta religious rituals played a significant
    role in cementing unity and discipline. . . . The left wing extremists which
    organized themselves into revolutionary secret societies followed the
    practice of taking vows before the goddess Kàlí.


    H.Urban Tantra Politics and Power
    Last edited by MahaHrada; 05 July 2010 at 04:58 AM.

  5. #5

    Re: Assorted Material on the Bengal Shakta Nationalists

    Sri Aurobindo was not a religious Shakta neither a Vamachari, he identified himself with Hinduism just for 12 years of his life but he had the spirit of a Shakta so to speak, the Divine Mother has an utmost importance in his path which he named Integral Yoga. He believed that in the struggle for independence violence was needed for some time :

    Here is shortly in his own words his view on nationalism and how he related it with Sanatana Dharma.

    http://intyoga.online.fr/uttaspch.htm

    He hardly lived with his wife (she died quite young) mainly because of his involvement in nationalist activities.

    Philippe
    Last edited by Philippe*; 05 July 2010 at 10:03 AM.

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    Re: Assorted Material on the Bengal Shakta Nationalists

    Quote Originally Posted by Philippe* View Post
    Sri Aurobindo was not a religious shakta neither a vamachari, he identified himself with Hinduism just for 12 years of his life but he had the spirit of a Shakta so to speak, the Divine Mother has an utmost importance in his path which he named Integral Yoga. He believed that in the struggle for independence violence was needed for some time :

    Here is shortly in his own words his view on nationalism and how he related it with Sanatana Dharma.

    http://intyoga.online.fr/uttaspch.htm

    He hardly lived with his wife (she died quite young) mainly because of his involvement in nationalist activities.

    Philippe
    Thats what i meant when the divine mother is of central importance for you, you are usually called a shakta, i am not aware of any further details then what i wrote. Since Kaula Dharma is secret whether he also practised Sri Vidya or only felt close to it nobody knows, all i know is that he associated with a great Kaula Guru from Bhaskararaja Makhins Parampara. That Vamachara or Kaulachara always involves Sexuality is anyways only a myth, the above remark about acharas and his wife was only caused by the impure imaginations of the above poster (sambya). and has been already deleted by satay.
    Last edited by MahaHrada; 05 July 2010 at 10:19 AM.

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    Re: Assorted Material on the Bengal Shakta Nationalists

    M.P. Pandit writer, and secretary of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and personal secretary to The Mother who wrote over 100 books most of them about aurobindos ideas also published excerpts from the importanat Kaula Tantra "Kularnava" called "Gems from the Tantras (Kularnava)

    He also translated a book of the aforementioned Kaula Guru under the Title: Thoughts of a Shakta by Yogishananda Natha, who was Nilakanta Sharma Joshi, disciple of Ambanandanath. I remember that yeras ago I had the great fortune to receive a copy of the Guru meditation written by Nilakanta Sharma Joshi for his disciples, his disciple said by this alone one can realise god. I was allowed and would be glad to email a copy to all sincere shaktas who ask me for it.
    Last edited by MahaHrada; 06 July 2010 at 11:44 AM.

  8. #8

    Re: Assorted Material on the Bengal Shakta Nationalists

    Quote Originally Posted by MahaHrada View Post
    M.P. Pandit writer, and secretary of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and personal secretary to The Mother who wrote over 100 books also published excerpts from the importanat Kaula Tantra "Kularnava" called "Gems from the Tantras (Kularnava)

    He also translated a book of the aforementioned Kaula Guru under the Title: Thoughts of a Shakta by Yogishananda Natha, who was Nilakanta Sharma Joshi, disciple of Ambanandanath. I remember that yeras ago I had the great fortune to receive a copy of the Guru meditation written by Nilakanta Sharma Joshi for his disciples, his disciple said by this alone one can realise god. I was allowed and would be glad to email a copy to all sincere shaktas who ask me for it.
    Can you send me a copy please.

    Thanks.
    What is Here, is Elsewhere. What is not Here, is Nowhere.

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    Re: Assorted Material on the Bengal Shakta Nationalists

    Quote Originally Posted by sm78 View Post
    Can you send me a copy please.

    Thanks.
    done

    Back on topic:

    Whether this movement was inspired by Vamachara or not, certainly the otherworldly aims of Vedanta with its emphasis on Brahman and the illusionary nature of the world, blowing up otherworldy aims and Moksha out of proportion weakened the resistance of the Hindus against colonial rule. Since the british ended the muslim rule they naturally had many supporters.

    What is very intersting though whether true or not in the eyes of the british Vamachara, "debauchery" and idolatry where to be blamend for the riots and the plan to weaken and destroy the Tantras or at least replace the original darshana with a sanitized Vedantic version with emphasis on the loving mother Kali, was carried out, and people like Rammohun Roy and his Brahmo samaj utilising the faked and manipulated Mahanirvana tantra with its vedantic bias and its inclusion of british legal reforms into the shastras to give divine status to them is an interesting move, of course many others well known like Ramakrishna and Vivekananda came in handy to promote a sanitized christianized version of Hindusims that strongly condemmend the authentic Achara.

    Some more material from this time, this time from the british, which show that they considered that some "evil" variety of Hinduism and its idolatry was cause of the revolts ansd that they were looking for help from the orthodox Hindus to quell the riots:

    One of the most pitiful of all the manifestations of unrest . . . is the strange
    underground movement . . . which has produced a secret bomb and revolver
    cult, an assassination society with secret initiation. . . . Behind all the cruelty
    and sudden death of the world lies . . . Kali, the goddess of all horror. . . .
    “I am hungry” is her cry. “I want blood, blood victims.” . . . Not even the
    perverted imaginations of the Marquis de Sade could devise a more horrible
    nightmare than Kali. . . . To minds such as students . . . overstrained by premature eroticism . . .
    this deity becomes a cult in which half-mystical murder may be a dominant thought.
    MacMunn, The Underworld of India, (1854)

    Modern men could not but seek to get rid of the filth,
    superstition and corruption revealed by the searchlight
    of Christ. . . . There has been a serious attempt, on the
    part of the orthodox, to destroy, drive underground or
    deny the worst features of Left-hand shaktism . . . and
    unclean superstition.
    J. N. Farquhar, Modern Religious Movements in India (1915)

    Cited in Arun Chandra Guha, Aurobindo and Jugantar, p. 19. Lieutenant
    Governor Baker described Aurobindo as “an active generator of revolutionary sentiment.
    He is imbued with a semi-religious fanaticism . . . and I attribute the spread
    of seditious doctrines to him personally in a greater degree than to any other individual
    . . . in India”
    Last edited by MahaHrada; 06 July 2010 at 11:51 AM.

  10. #10

    Re: Assorted Material on the Bengal Shakta Nationalists

    Quote Originally Posted by MahaHrada View Post
    done

    people like Rammohun Roy and his Brahmo samaj utilising the faked and manipulated Mahanirvana tantra with its vedantic bias and its inclusion of british legal reforms into the shastras to give divine status to them is an interesting move,
    In my understanding, the mahanirvana tantra instead of being a fake tantra created by neo-moralists aimed at diluting the kaula dharma with newer morals and vedantic slant, was instead a text written by kaulas to influence the neo vedantins and victorial moralists into better appreciation of the religion of that region (bengal, assam).

    It is true ramamohan was very much using this book in his new christian like religion, but still only to a small degree w.r.t to the whole scope of the book.
    What is Here, is Elsewhere. What is not Here, is Nowhere.

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