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Thread: Sri Aurobindo and the Upanishads

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    Sri Aurobindo and the Upanishads

    Namaste all,

    I was hoping to get the opinion of others here on Sri Aurobindo and his translations of the Upanishads. It seems to be a little difficult to find english translations of the upanishads, plus, most english versions are heavily abridged. I have a copy of Sri Aurobindo's translation, which I have enjoyed reading. My questions to you all are; is Sri Aurobindo a respected Hindu teacher? What tradition does he come from? And lastly, is there a complete translation of all the Upanishads in english? It seems that someone would have taken up that task by now.

  2. #2

    Re: Sri Aurobindo and the Upanishads

    There are many translations of the pricipal upanishads by many teachers from different traditions. Though not as widely traslated as the gita. The translation all have some bias w.r.t the school of philosophy the author is coming from. Sri Aurobindo is highly respected by most people but he is not a traditional teacher and had his own philosophy of the supermind and supramental evolution quiet different from any of the traditional schools of thoughts in bharat dharma. I personally find his theory and yoga flawed, however his translation seem mostly unbiased, much more than can be said about many other traditional teachers. The first president of India S. Radhakrishnan transalated the upanishads in a volume and might be good place to start.

    Swami Krishnananda's translations are available on the web, but might be more from advaitic pov with lot of personal commmentry.

    I am not sure if the traditional bhyasyas (commentaries) by the vedantic schools of shankara, ramanuja and bhaskara have been translated into english...i know that these commentaries are available in english for the gita.

    Swami Krishnananda's website and upanishad translations:-
    http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/
    What is Here, is Elsewhere. What is not Here, is Nowhere.

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    Re: Sri Aurobindo and the Upanishads

    Thanks for the suggestions. I am curious to hear more about Sri Aurobindo. In what ways is he non-traditional?

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    Re: Sri Aurobindo and the Upanishads

    Quote Originally Posted by upasaka View Post
    Thanks for the suggestions. I am curious to hear more about Sri Aurobindo. In what ways is he non-traditional?
    Rishi Aurobindo - was a revolutionary (freedom fighter) from Bengal, with a spiritual mind. When he was jailed for a long time in the notorious Cellular jail of Andaman and Nicober island he started parctising the spiritual line and was enlightened. It is reinventing the knowledge already there in Gita and Upanishad. Later on after release, he moved to Pondicherry, which was a French colony. He started an Ashram.

    His treatise is more of the Advaita tradition.

    The two major books are The life divine and Savitri

    You can find plenty like this like Maharshi Ramana, Yogananda, Ramakrishna, Viveknanda, etc.

    Some sites :

    http://www.sriaurobindosociety.org.in/index.htm
    http://www.thecolorsofindia.com/auro...hilosophy.html
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philoso..._Sri_Aurobindo
    http://www.thaiexotictreasures.com/advaita_vedanta.html

    Love and best wishes

  5. #5

    Re: Sri Aurobindo and the Upanishads

    Namaste upasaka,

    Sri Aurobindo was not really a Hindu teacher such as for instance Swami Vivekananda, he associated himself with Hinduism just for 12 years of his life mainly during the period of his political activities. He differs in a large extent from traditional darshanas. He did not belong to some parampara or sampradaya. There is no regular lineage in this path. He met a guru in flesh once and realized in 3 days what was expected. He has been influenced by a lot of things : Vedas, Vedanta, Yoga, Vaishnavism, Tantra, Western education, his own spiritual experiences, the meeting with a French woman, Mirra Alfassa called later Mother... He was highly respected for his role and influence in the struggle for the Independence of India.

    He was also a born poet and gifted in writing skills. His translations are intentionally sometimes a bit far from a literal meaning. But his works on Upanishads and Vedas are not his main works, by the way he considered his analysis of the Rig Veda incomplete. A few people have carried on the exploration of Vedas in the same vein, here is a website : http://www.vedah.com/org2/about_saksi/overview.html

    Here is a short summary of his teaching :
    http://www.sriaurobindosociety.org.i...ro/aurovsn.htm
    Most of his writings are available for free online :
    http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/as...o/writings.php
    On Wikipedia (the information seems correct) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Aurobindo

    “It (his teaching) is not his object to develop any one religion or to amalgamate the older religions or to found any new religion - for any of these things would lead away from his central purpose. The one aim of his Yoga is an inner self-development by which each one who follows it can in time discover the One Self in all and evolve a higher consciousness than the mental, a spiritual and supramental consciousness which will transform and divinise human nature.” Sri Aurobindo

    “What Sri Aurobindo represents in the world's history is not a teaching, not even a revelation; it is a decisive action direct from the Supreme.” Mother

    Regards,

    Philippe

    P.S. : I am a follower of Sri Aurobindo and Mother

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    Re: Sri Aurobindo and the Upanishads

    Quote Originally Posted by Philippe* View Post
    Namaste upasaka,

    Sri Aurobindo was not really a Hindu teacher such as for instance Swami Vivekananda, he associated himself with Hinduism just for 12 years of his life mainly during the period of his political activities. He differs in a large extent from traditional darshanas. He did not belong to some parampara or sampradaya. There is no regular lineage in this path. He met a guru in flesh once and realized in 3 days what was expected. He has been influenced by a lot of things : Vedas, Vedanta, Yoga, Vaishnavism, Tantra, Western education, his own spiritual experiences, the meeting with a French woman, Mirra Alfassa called later Mother... He was highly respected for his role and influence in the struggle for the Independence of India.

    He was also a born poet and gifted in writing skills. His translations are intentionally sometimes a bit far from a literal meaning. But his works on Upanishads and Vedas are not his main works, by the way he considered his analysis of the Rig Veda incomplete. A few people have carried on the exploration of Vedas in the same vein, here is a website : http://www.vedah.com/org2/about_saksi/overview.html

    Here is a short summary of his teaching :
    http://www.sriaurobindosociety.org.i...ro/aurovsn.htm
    Most of his writings are available for free online :
    http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/as...o/writings.php
    On Wikipedia (the information seems correct) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Aurobindo

    “It (his teaching) is not his object to develop any one religion or to amalgamate the older religions or to found any new religion - for any of these things would lead away from his central purpose. The one aim of his Yoga is an inner self-development by which each one who follows it can in time discover the One Self in all and evolve a higher consciousness than the mental, a spiritual and supramental consciousness which will transform and divinise human nature.” Sri Aurobindo

    “What Sri Aurobindo represents in the world's history is not a teaching, not even a revelation; it is a decisive action direct from the Supreme.” Mother

    Regards,

    Philippe

    P.S. : I am a follower of Sri Aurobindo and Mother
    Namaste, Philippe.

    Thanks for the links. I read the wikipedia entry on Sri Aurobindo earlier today and was struck by how most of the article talked about his politics and not his religion. (Though that was mentioned too, of course.) He seems to have been a very interesting man. I was especially fascinated by how he incorporates evolution into his teaching. Speaking as a Buddhist, I find evolution to be totally compatible with my beliefs. I know as well that evolution is compatible with Hinduism, but this is the first time I have run across someone making explicit mention of the subject.

  7. #7

    Re: Sri Aurobindo and the Upanishads

    There are differences with the theory of evolution in a strict darwinian sense where the process of evolution is not at all teleological. His conception of evolution is teleological, the Spirit is involved in the Matter. Behind the "random process" is the vast works of the Divine Shakti to manifest the Divine consciousness. Thus man is seen as more evolved than a bacteria which does not mean anything in the theory of evolution where a living bacteria is as much "evolved" than a man so to speak, there is not a natural hierarchical order of beings according to the qualities of consciousness. A bacteria could even be fitter in the struggle for life than a man in an environment, a factor like developed cognitive abilities is not a criterium of an absolute superiority. The theory of evolution rejects essentialism. We can say that there are a few similarities with the Intelligent Design theory without all the creationist and Christian agenda behind. Moreover there is an occult aspect with the belief of planes of consciousness besides Matter with the influence from subtle forces on the Matter. It is different from the physicalist paradigm which is the point of view of today's science by default.

    Philippe
    Last edited by Philippe*; 02 August 2010 at 02:51 AM.

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    Re: Sri Aurobindo and the Upanishads

    Quote Originally Posted by Philippe* View Post
    There are differences with the theory of evolution in a strict darwinian sense where the process of evolution is purely random and not at all teleological. His conception of evolution is teleological, the Spirit is involved in the Matter. Behind the "random process" is the vast works of the Divine Shakti to manifest the Divine consciousness. Thus man is seen as more evolved than a bacteria which does not mean anything in the theory of evolution where a living bacteria is as much "evolved" than a man so to speak, there is not a natural hierarchical order of beings according to the qualities of consciousness. A bacteria could even be fitter in the struggle for life than a man in an environment, a factor like developed cognitive abilities is not a criterium of an absolute superiority. The theory of evolution rejects essentialism. We can say that there are a few similarities with the Intelligent Design theory without all the creationist and Christian agenda behind. Moreover there is an occult aspect with the belief of planes of consciousness besides Matter with the influence from subtle forces on the Matter. It is different from the physicalist paradigm which is the point of view of today's science by default.

    Philippe
    So, Sri Aurobindo denies that natural selection is the driving force behind physical evolution? What is his position on the role of karma in evolution?

  9. #9

    Re: Sri Aurobindo and the Upanishads

    The natural selection is seen as an aspect of the works of Prakriti. Hardly anything has been said about the supramental being : how will he look like ? as the mind can not really comprehend the Supermind, but it is not a Nietzschean superman though there could be some intermediate levels and the driving force is the Supermind on Earth. It is not the point in this Yoga where more important things matter : dealing with tamasic attitudes, developing the link with the Divine, surrender to the Divine Mother, aspiration, courage, purity, down to Earth qualities aso... It would appear by a special physical transformation of one or several individuals, a bit like what is said to have happened to some Siddhas in India such as Ramalinga in Tamil Nadu but with huge collective consequences.

    As for karma, there is no strict individual arithmetical basis, it is linked with the collective and universal karma. Moreover some difficult experiences can be considered very harsh in the present moment but they are positive for the evolution of what he called the psychic being, the soul in the manifestation, it is not necessarily the results of bad karma.

    Integral Yoga is very much focused on life, "All life is Yoga". As the sadhak does not seek to get out of this world which despite all the imperfection, falsehood, ignorance, suffering is seen as a Lila and a world striving for perfection on a cosmic level. It is believed that the necessity of birth and death will be overcome in further steps of the evolution of Consciousness.

    Here is a text :

    http://www.aurobindo.ru/workings/sa/16/0049_e.htm

    Philippe
    Last edited by Philippe*; 27 July 2010 at 08:38 AM.

  10. #10

    Re: Sri Aurobindo and the Upanishads

    Sri Aurobindo revealed his vision of the supramental world in some passages of his poem Savitri (24000 lines), here is an excerpt :

    "I saw the Omnipotent's flaming pioneers
    Over the heavenly verge which turns towards life
    Come crowding down the amber stairs of birth;
    Forerunners of a divine multitude,
    Out of the paths of the morning star they came
    Into the little room of mortal life.
    I saw them cross the twilight of an age,
    The sun-eyed children of a marvellous dawn,
    The great creators with wide brows of calm,
    The massive barrier-breakers of the world
    And wrestlers with destiny in her lists of will,
    The labourers in the quarries of the gods,
    The messengers of the Incommunicable,
    The architects of immortality."

    Philippe
    Last edited by Philippe*; 27 July 2010 at 08:39 AM.

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