Guest guest Posted July 28, 2001 Report Share Posted July 28, 2001 Some time ago somone suggested the relationship between the teachings of Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurbindo We had asked Sister Gayatriprana to comment. The response is a long message but an interesting one.......jay - Vedanta Society of Northern California sunder ; vivekananda Friday, July 27, 2001 11:23 Swami Vivekananda and Aurobindo Dear Sunder, Please see my answer to your question about Sri Aurobindo in the attachment. Cordially, Gayatriprana Dear Sunder, Thank you for your interesting question: Did Aurobindo extend Swami Vivekananda’s New-Vedanta? along with the instructive information and references. I am sorry for the delay in replying; I have been out of town for two weeks. Also, as Aurobindo’s work is not my usual bailiwick, I have had to do a little background reading to orientate myself on the question. My understanding of Aurobindo’s philosophy is based mostly on my general reading (where he crops up all the time) and especially what I have gleaned from Basant Kumar Lal’s Contemporary Indian Philosophy. When I went through that text in detail some years back, it seemed to me that Aurobindo did have a lot in common with Swami Vivekananda. What prevented me from going further with Aurobindo’s work was shortage of time and the difficulty of learning a whole, complex vocabulary to grasp his thought in detail. What I gather he shares with Vivekananda in a general way is: acceptance of: The ordinary world and humanity. All four yogas as valid means to self-realization. Maya as the how and why of creation. Spiritual evolution combined with involution. Integralism (or holism) To my mind, that covers the whole picture of philosophy and experience. As I understand it, this integration of the "ordinary" world (what is usually considered "Western") and the spiritual imperatives of Vedanta is the New Vedanta (as opposed to Medieval Vedanta, not the Upanishads), which was building up before Ramakrishna-Vivekananda and has continued since. Most contemporary Indian thinkers accept this framework, though each has his own special emphasis and stamp. What I find to be special about Ramakrishna-Vivekananda is the in-depth and complete exploration and explanation of every single aspect of Neo-Vedanta and the thorough integration and application of all five aspects. Without reading Aurobindo’s major works I really cannot be definite about where to put his emphasis, but my impression has been that his "specialty" is involution/evolution (what I call holovolution). The materials you sent me were new to me and very interesting and threw light on what I was thinking previously. Aurobindo claims several times that Swami Vivekananda spoke to him in the intuitive realm , starting Aurobindo’s researches into the levels of being/consciousness and the yogas associated with them. As I understand Aurobindos’ system, he posits: Mind Higher mind Illumined mind Intuition Overmind Supermind That means, then, that Swami Vivekananda was speaking to him on the "fourth" level. Aurobindo indicates that he has tried to access overmind and supermind, but apparently has had only glimpses of them. He began at the fourth level, discovered two others and was trying to understand them. I cannot comment on whether he succeeded, in view of the fact that I know no more about his development than what you have provided me. I am currently writing a book on how Sri Ramakrishna transmitted to Narendranath Dutta the whole picture of Neo-Vedanta, through a series of five samadhis. Each stage of this process emphasized a particular concern or level of discourse (the five themes I listed at the beginning); and I believe that Swami Vivekananda later reproduced these in this own teaching work. He also gave explanations of five levels of consciousness, each of which is the ground in which a level of discourse occurs. In this sense I don’t think Aurobindo’s understanding of Swami Vivekananda was complete. The levels are there; but, as Aurobindo says, not spelled out in a systematic way, nor given recognizable and consistent names. There is also a sixth level in Neo-Vedanta, but is unspoken, because it is the ultimate Ground in which the other five occur. In this context, Swami Vivekananda spoke to Aurobindo on the intuitive (holovolutionary) level, from which Aurobindo could gather together the data and interconnections of levels 1-3. The fifth level is integralism or holism, which Aurobindo discussed; but, from the materials you provide, may have not fully realized. In the work I am doing I find Ramakrishna and Vivekananda to be fully established in the holistic/integrative plane; which means they could effortlessly relate to any level and see how the levels held together from any point in the overall system. I try to illustrate these complex interactions with color diagrams and arrive at an overall picture (matrices) of Neo-Vedanta and all the interconnections within it. I am not sure where Aurobindo fits in, finally, but it seems at the fourth to fifth level. Again, without knowing the full story, it may be that Aurobindo did not go through the samadhis that, I feel, are necessary for a teacher to have a total and permanent grasp on how all these levels hang together. His work, insofar as I understand it, is therefore a bit less clear and conclusive to me than that of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, although very valuable in exploring many of the implications and ramifications of the overall system. There is no question in my mind that Vivekananda did indeed go through those samadhis and was crystal-clear about how the system worked. So much so, he did not talk about it much. He just hit the bull’s eye again and again. Moreover, if we look at his work as conforming to the matrices set up by Sri Ramakrishna, it is possible to see the steps Swami Vivekananda took to set up his teaching in such a way that anyone who does the spiritual work with an awareness of the overall system can make the breakthroughs he made and become conclusively established in whatever level(s) he or she has mastered. Aurobindo had direct instruction from Swami Vivekananda and worked out a system from it in a certain way. I believe the system is inherent in Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Vedanta and is available from anyone to use as a framework for sadhana, whether simply seeing the divine in humanity (Level 1) or effortlessly relating to any form of the divine in the very precise way that will illumine them most fully (Level 5). Because the whole thing is based on samadhi, it has a coherency and clarity that is, perhaps, not found so much elsewhere. Ramakrishna-Vivekananda is, in my view, the "dye in the tub" (with no "color") which others - Sri Aurobindo being one of the most distinguished and effective - have taken out and used in particular "colors". I have no question in my mind that it is necessary for this to be done; there are many types of mind and each needs a different way of presenting the system. What is important is to find the way that works for oneself, understand it fully, and put it into practice. Aurobindo’s thought has done a lot of good, at least here in America, and it appeals to large numbers of people. I hope I have made myself clear and that the ideas are of some help for your own thinking. Cordially, Gayatriprana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 28, 2001 Report Share Posted July 28, 2001 Pranams Sister Gayatri, Thank you very much for your thoughts on the subject. [To give the reference for the question, please visit URL: http://intyoga.online.fr/viveka.htm ] Regards, sunder Ramakrishna, " Vivekananda Centre " <vivekananda@b...> wrote: > Some time ago someone suggested the relationship between > the teachings of Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurbindo > > We had asked Sister Gayatriprana to comment. > The response is a long message but an interesting one.......jay > > - > Vedanta Society of Northern California > sunder ; vivekananda@b... > Friday, July 27, 2001 11:23 > Swami Vivekananda and Aurobindo > Please see my answer to your question about Sri Aurobindo in the attachment. > > Thank you for your interesting question: Did Aurobindo extend Swami Vivekananda's New-Vedanta? along with the instructive information and references. Gayatriprana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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