Category: Spirituality
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Integral Yoga and the Limits of Progressive Thought and Action, Part I
In the previous post we saw how progressive thought and Integral Yoga have similar aims of universalism and the moving of humanity in a more egalitarian, harmonious, peaceful and compassionate direction. We also touched upon the idea that progressive solutions are limited by the fact that progressive thinking cannot go…
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Is Spirituality/Integral Yoga Progressive or Conservative? Part II
Now that we have gone over the basic definitions of the conventional terms we are going to use over the next few posts, lets start taking a look at the relationships between them. The reason why I think this topic of the relationships between spirituality/Integral Yoga, religion, progressivism and conservatism…
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Is Spirituality/Integral Yoga Progressive or Conservative? Part I (Descriptions)
There are many (maybe infinite?) supra-interesting sociological and psychological themes that can be analyzed by studying the petri dish that is Auroville. Among these are the multifarious interplays between spirituality, religion and the socio-political ideologies of liberalism/progressivism and conservatism. In the next few posts I will take a look at…
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Why Should Auroville Have (Some Level of) Autonomy? Part III
In the first post of this current sequence of posts on Auroville’s autonomy, I had pointed out two often mentioned quotes of The Mother regarding her aspiration for a place which no individual person or group could lay claim to, and which instead belonged to the entirety of humanity. In…
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Why Should Auroville Have (Some Level of) Autonomy? Part II
In the previous post (Why Should Auroville Have (Some Level of) Autonomy? Part I), we went through the spiritual and philosophical context behind the need for Auroville to have a level of administrative autonomy. In this post, we will unpack the correlations of terms such as spiritual anarchy and autonomy,…
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Why Should Auroville Have (Some Level of) Autonomy? Part I
In the previous post (Why is Auroville in India?), I had mentioned that the Indian government had granted Auroville a level of autonomy in its governance and functioning, via the Auroville Foundation Act of 1988. But why does Auroville need this autonomy at all? (This is a long post with…
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Modes of Existence in Auroville
It is very clear from the previous posts of this blog that my focus has been on emphasizing the centrality of Integral Yoga in the Auroville project. Yet there are many people in and connected to Auroville who don’t just de-emphasize Integral Yoga in Auroville, but deny its relevance outright.…
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The Core Truth of Integral Yoga
Even though this blog is only a few posts old, it is already apparent that there is a focus on the importance of Integral Yoga in the context of Auroville. I did not know in which direction this blog would evolve, but at least at this early stage, it seems…
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What is Sanatana Dharma?
The term Sanatana Dharma is in the news these days in multiple contexts. Sanatana Dharma can be understood in different ways, mainly because of the complexity of the word Dharma. The word Sanatana is understood well enough to mean “eternal”, but Dharma is a word with complex connotations. It is…
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What Kind of Spirituality in Auroville?
Auroville of course is a community/township with spirituality at its core. However, for many people, for example young people who come here for various volunteering and learning opportunities, this fact is only of peripheral importance. And even people who come to Auroville because of its spiritual focus usually carry a…
Finding Auroville 