Battle For Consciousness Theory

‘Rajiv Malhotra is a well-known name whose writings combine the ancient wisdom of India with the rigorous scholarship that the modern age demands. Consistent with the Yuga dharma, his writings are a beautiful synthesis of faith and reason, antiquity and modernity, thereby placing him in a unique position to look at present-day events and movements in light of Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Truths revealed in man’s greatest of all adventures, the adventure of Consciousness. His recent work takes up this most important frontier of Consciousness studies that is going to revolutionize the future. 

Consciousness has traditionally been the domain of the mystic but we now see a growing interest among scientists in this most important yet least understood field of human studies. But the question is whether we can study Consciousness as a ‘phenomenon’ by applying the cannons of the rational mind, given that Consciousness surpasses reason and antedates creation itself. 

The answer given by the Indian mystics is quite clear. One must first learn to step back and withdraw from form, name, and identity with pure Consciousness before one can have even the right to speak about it. And among the mystics who have explored the heights and depths of Consciousness, none has written so much about it and with such clarity as Sri Aurobindo. 

However, there have been attempts to usurp his original discoveries and present them not only as someone else’s own — which would not be so damaging — but to twist them, remove the most important elements from them, distort them so that they are no longer recognizable, and then present them to the world neatly packaged for consumption. This is the subject of the present work and Rajiv Malhotra does it with a rare finesse of which he alone is perhaps capable. 

Having made a thorough study of Sri Aurobindo and been acquainted with the writings of Ken Wilber and others, I fully endorse the thesis and findings of the authors. This work is deeply appreciated, and its courage and clarity are laudable. I wish and hope that this book is widely read and circulated and finds its rightful place not only in every library that claims to be complete but in the home of every reader who is serious and committed to understanding this most important subject’.

‘This book is an eye-opener, not only in helping the world recognize the magnitude of Sri Aurobindo’s unique contribution towards the evolution of self and consciousness, but also a deep look at how various Western thinkers and spiritualists have fed on and hijacked Indian thought and dominated the discourse by their power of universal outreach and opinion making. This book calls upon us urgently to introspect and confront our wisdom’.

‘The Battle for Consciousness Theory is an essential read for anyone invested in preserving the integrity of consciousness studies. The esteemed authors of this book meticulously expose the appropriation and distortion of Sri Aurobindo’s profound insights by Ken Wilber. Their extensive research reveals how Wilber’s rise involved the marginalization of core Indian sources and redefining the landscape of Integral Theory at the expense of Vedic traditions. This book not only restores the rightful place of Sri Aurobindo’s contributions but also critically examines the pervasive influence of Western Universalism and stands as a definitive defense against the annexation of Indian philosophical heritage. This book is a must-read for scholars, practitioners, and anyone committed to preserving the sanctity of spiritual knowledge’.

‘I appreciate your efforts in making Sri Aurobindo and The Mother – and the traditions behind them – better known worldwide.’

Unfortunately, many particularly in the West, after drawing heavily from Sri Aurobindo, turn against him and deprecate him in an effort to enhance the perception of their “originality”; some deliberately misrepresent Sri Aurobindo’s views while offering their “original” content as superior and correct. Or else they catch a fragment of his comprehensive vision and try to graft it by force-fitting onto their existing views. As a result, they either end up with some kind of crude reductionism of Sri Aurobindo’s thought into a materialistic or pseudo-scientific mould, or they distort his ideas and mix them with populist New Age or other irrational or inconsistent beliefs. 

Ken Wilber and the groups inspired by his “school” are often guilty of many of these kinds of errors and distortions, whether intentional or otherwise. Their appropriation of Sri Aurobindo’s key insights has had the effect of seeding his ideas in the West, greatly accelerating and widening its philosophical discourse, but the accompanying mixture and distortions have also perverted many deep truths and introduced avoidable confusion, hence delaying the wider adoption of Sri Aurobindo’s integral vision. 

For example, they reduce the term “Integral Yoga” to a mixture of New Age practices blended with neurological stimulation by substances or otherwise; or higher gradations of consciousness and their corresponding worlds are reduced to merely finer gradations of Matter; or else, spiritual and cosmic forces are reduced to “probability waves” of quantum physics! 

When deprecating Sri Aurobindo, Wilber places him on the same level as Freud, Jung or Abhinavagupta, and declares his thought and work as insufficient and irrelevant for the future. He ascribes the originality of Sri Aurobindo’s key ideas to Western sources in what appears to be an organised effort at thought-colonisation. For example, he attributes the concept of a prior involution being the cause of evolution to Rupert Sheldrake, even though Sheldrake himself was heavily influenced by Sri Aurobindo and Indian philosophy during his career and long stay in India and acknowledged Sri Aurobindo’s influence when presenting his theory at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram soon after the publication of his first book. 

The Battle for Consciousness Theory is the first major publication that attempts to thoroughly document the (mis)appropriation of Sri Aurobindo’s thought by Wilber and his followers. It examines the various stages of Wilber’s thought and publications, pointing out key elements of his appropriation from Sri Aurobindo and from Indian traditions in general, and documenting how these ideas changed and underwent distortions. It exposes Wilber’s U-turn from his initial stance of a relatively more honest acknowledgement of Eastern traditions and his later dismissal of their place in his work. 

This book will surely play an important role in setting right the record of originality, but much more so by clarifying and helping to restore to their pristine form the original concepts and ideas of Sri Aurobindo that have been sullied by reductionism and distortion. It joins the series of courageous and meticulously researched academic publications of Rajiv Malhotra in his effort to de-colonise Indian knowledge systems and yoga traditions to bring them back centre-stage in the world’s history where they rightfully belong.