Research background

After reading an article in Times Magazine on the opening ceremony of Auroville in 1968, the author decided to go to India in order to participate in this collective experiment for human unity. However, while living in Auroville for a short time he did not understand Sri Aurobindo’s integral vision and, therefore, he decided to move to the Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute to follow a Yoga Research/ Yoga course, to get familiar with and a better understanding of the various practical and theoretical aspects of Yoga.

In order to acquire a detailed background of Indian Philosophy and to approach Sri Aurobindo’s philosophical vision from an academic background, he decided to study Indian and Western Philosophy at the Lucknow University. While doing his M.A in Philosophy/Psychology he chose Sri Aurobindo as a special subject.

During his research work the author was living in Pondicherry where he was closely connected with the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, an inspiring place he used as a field of experimentation and where he received the necessary guidance from some of Sri Aurobindo’s disciples with an academic background.

After finishing his research work in Pondicherry he became more familiar with the Transpersonal movement and Sri Aurobindo’s integral sadhana, which resulted in the publication of his second book.

Afterwards he moved to Auroville where he studied Ken Wilber in detail, as Wilber claimed to offer a refinement of Sri Aurobindo’s integral vision. While sympathetically exploring points of convergence as well as points of divergence in their views, he discovered that the weak areas Ken Wilber identified and his refinements of Sri Aurobindo’s metaphysical vision are more related to Ken Wilber’s, at times, wrong interpretations and lack of understanding of Sri Aurobindo’s views. Are Ken Wilbers refinements more related to some of the devotees of Sri Aurobindo due to their dogmatic approach and lack of experimental of and academic investigation in Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual claims.

Finally, after living in Auroville for the last twenty-two years, the author published “Reflections upon Psycho-spiritual Obstacles on the Journey to the Divine; an insider’s view”, where he endeavours to relate some of the questions of his latest analytical research to the present-day situation in Auroville.