Haridas Chaudhuri (1913-1975), Bengali integral philosopher, was a
correspondent with Sri Aurobindo and the founder of the California Institute of
Integral Studies (CIIS). He was born in Kolkata. He studied at the Scottish
Church College and later at the University of Calcutta from where he earned his
doctorate in Indian philosophy. He became a professor and later the chair of
philosophy at the Krishnagar College, a constituent college of the University of
Calcutta.
In 1951, Dr. Chaudhuri was invited by Frederic Spiegelberg of Stanford
University to join the staff of the newly formed external link American Academy
of Asian Studies in San Francisco. He accepted the invitation, eager to
implement in a Western educational institution the integral approach to
education that he had developed as a student of Sri Aurobindo. Soon after his
arrival in San Francisco, Dr. Chaudhuri and his wife Bina established the
external link Cultural Integration Fellowship, from which emerged an educational
branch later to become California Institute of Integral Studies.
Over the past 30 years, the Institute's original emphasis on Asian religions
and cultures evolved to include comparative and cross-cultural studies in
philosophy, religion, psychology, counseling, cultural anthropology,
organizational studies, health studies, and the arts.
Chaudhuri was the first to publish in the West on Integral Psychology, during
the 1970s. He postulated a triadic principle of uniqueness, relatedness and
transcendence, corresponding to the personal, interpersonal and transpersonal
domains of human existence. His version of Integral Psychology is unrelated to
that of Ken Wilber, who has written a book of the same name.
Dr. Chaudhuri has participated in many philosophical, religious ans
psychological conferences including the Silver Jubilee session of the Indian
Philosophical Congress, Calcutta, 1950; US National Commission for UNESCO, San
Francisco, 1957; Parliament of World Religions, University of Oregon, Eugene,
1962; Buddhists' Conference, Asilomar, 1962; UN Convocation of Religion for
World Peace, San Francisco, 1965; Association for Humanistic Psychology, Miami
Beach, Florida, 1970; Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine, Stanford, 1972;
International Seminar on Human Unity, Government of India, New Delhi, 1972;
University of California, Los Angeles (Seminars on mental health) 1972 and 1973,
and others.
Dr. Chaudhuri's publications include: Integral Yoga, Philosophy
of Integralism, Modern Man's Religion, Philosopy of Meditation,
Mastering the Problems of Living, Sri Aurobindo: Prophet of Life Divine and
others.
Auromere Ayurvedic Imports
