Following the controversy regarding the book The Failed Prophet, the Chairman of Overman Foundation Shri Anurag Banerjee has issued the following statement:
Before the storm revolving around Peter Heehs’ book The Lives of Sri Aurobindo could subside, another derogatory book on Sri Aurobindo written by N. Nandhivarman and titled The Failed Prophet has seen the light of the day. The author for a number of years has written on the ‘mismanagement’ of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust and its Trustees. But now he has changed the target of his attack from Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust (though he has devoted more than twenty five pages of this book to criticize the functioning of the Trust) to Sri Aurobindo.
Not only has the author revealed his the limited scholarliness (which too is full of misinterpretations) through this book but also his own ignorance of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy which he has rubbished. What Sri Aurobindo has done for India and the world, rather, the entire mankind, is known to all. Therefore it matters little if the author feels that Sri Aurobindo’s contribution is negligible. In a secular country like India where freedom of speech is a constitutional right every individual is free to express his views and the author of The Failed Prophet has made good use of his constitutional right. But it hardly matters what Mr. Nandhivarman’s views are about Sri Aurobindo. His is a lone voice which would surely get drowned in the ocean of reverence the entire world has for Sri Aurobindo. Men like Mr. Nandhivarman would come and go but the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother will go on till the aim of their yoga is achieved. This book can create a short-lived sensation (with some of its sentences like ‘Aurobindo Ghose had brainwashed a small tribe to dream they are supermen’ or ‘He could use the mastery of the language to mesmerize people but he failed to become a Super human being. He passed away like other mortals,’) among those who have little faith in Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy but just as no dark cloud can darken the radiance of the sun, no one and nothing can malign the greatness of Sri Aurobindo.
Let Mr. Nandhivarman be happy with his wrong convictions of the futility of the work of Sri Aurobindo. But we have no hesitation to proclaim that Overman Foundation condemns The Failed Prophet.
Thanks for the criticism. I have known Mr.Abay Singh Nahar and I do have papers to provide to the archives your foundation plans to set up. Abay Singh Nahar’s papers had been a source of inspiration to me in ashram account case. I also know how Satprem was hounded out of Auroville and drawn from his Mother’s Agenda points relevent to my views.Wish the family members of Mr.Abay Singh Nahar all success in their new effortd through Overman Foundation. Let the Foundation blast me by its criticisms. It augurs well for debate…. N.Nandhivarman
Mr.Nandhivarman. You say “augurs well”. That show clearly your intentions; that you are not open to truth and just want a rowdy debate. If you want it. You shall have it.
Regards
Sona Singh
narrow-minded, parochial, shallow people who are literate but not educated and also very far from being pricincipled humans of self respect and integrity – strutting ‘know -all’s , are literally endless in today’s time and ‘culture’ ! To respond seriously to such persons , is to give prominence and importance to that which is utterly irrelevant and insignificant ! These petty , pygmy minds simply THRIVE and GROW on the life-giving Oxygen of ‘debate’ and the resulting publicity !! Debates are for that which is worthy of debate ! If completely ignored, the likes of Mr. Nandivarman will fade away into oblivion very rapidly, being read perhaps only by those who have a nature similar to his ! And that is the crux of the matter, for Sri Aurobindo surely doesnt require certification or approval of anybody in the world – be it a heehs or a varman !