Originally posted on sciy.org by Koantum on Wed 02 Jan 2008 10:25 AM SCT
Dear Arpit,
I am wondering about the petition that claims to be sponsored by the SAICE Yahoo Group. Is this going to be allowed to stand? Regardless of how any of us may feel about the Hees book, the claim that the petition speaks for all 221 members of the group is neither appropriate nor ethical. This is not to say that the petition itself is inappropriate. I am merely speaking of its claim that 221 people out there are collectively sponsoring it.
That said, the petition is rather vague. It could be interpreted to mean that the work of the archives to review the actual writings of Sri Aurobindo and check for errors in the published texts is supported by the petitioners. The petition could also mean the opposite. It all depends on what is meant by the phrase, "maintain the purity and originality of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo's biographies and writings as it stood in their time." Does it mean the published texts are more pure than Sri Aurobindo's actual handwriting, or is it saying that the published works are necessarily correct, even if discrepancies between the written and published versions have been identified? And what biographies that stood in Mother and Sri Aurobindo's time does the petition refer to? Does that mean that the petitioners intend that Georges Van Vrekhen's biography on The Mother's life, for example, is to be repudiated since it was published after she left the body? Or does it mean that all biographies are to be shunned in light of what Sri Aurobindo said about the fact that his life was not on the surface to be seen?
The fact this, this petition, like the whole Hees book controversy is a messy thing (I am NOT referring to Mother's and Sri Aurobindo's words in the petition). As long as it is posted to the internet purporting the support of all 221 members of the SAICE list it is merely providing fodder for participants in the controversy. Just today, Koantum, a member of the SAICE, list posted he following statement on the SCIY blog:
And yes, right, I once asked the SAICE group why no one objected against using the name of this group as the sponsor for some silly ipetition. No one. So they are all in league it seems, here as there.
This is, in fact, what prompted me to write to you today. My personal views of the Hees book are not yet public and as such I cannot have my name attached to this petition. The fact is, I am reserving judgement of the book until I have read it myself. Moreover, I do not want a collective body telling me which biographies are appropriate for me to read or not. I feel I can trust my own judgement as to the nature of writings by devotees and others about Sri Aurobindo and Mother. I suspect that other members of the SAICE Yahoo Group feel the same.
Please take action to remove the SAICE Yahoo Group as a sponsor of the petition. I urge you to contact the owners of Ipetitions.com and notify them that this sponsorship was not authorized by the group or by its moderator. If you or the group has authorized it in some way that is unknown to me, then please remove my email from the SAICE Yahoo group. I hope does not come to that, however, because I deeply value my connection to SAICE and to the the SAICE Yahoo group members.
The petition can be seen at:
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/editing_SATM/index.html
Sincerely,
Prapanna
Prapanna Smith, MAED, Ed.D. Candidate
Principal, Integral Elementary School
Rainbow Kids Integral Preschool
https://www.IntegralElementary.com
https://www.RainbowKidsSchool.comAttachment: