Winter, 1991 Voll. XVII, No. 3 ------~11-e@,MhfrhHa of Contents Patrons

·ooing Sadhana . in the Yoga 3-4 Anonymous Ralph P. Marra By Gordon Korstange Tucson. AZ Mary and Jack Alexander Sacramento, CA Mark W. Meyer Grace at the All-USA-Meeting 4-7 Misawa, Japan Compiled By Wayne Bloomquist Bloomquist & Associates Berkeley, CA Katherine & Paul Molinari ·Towards the Great Richmond, CA Markell Brooks Turning Point (Part 2) 8-14 Pacific Palisades, CA Jack Morris By C. V.Devan Nair Howard Beach, NY Peter Callaway Pojoaque, NM Zackaria Moursi New Age, New Consciousness, Kansas City, MO New Species 15-16 -Nirmalendu &Sukla Datta-Gupta By Eugene Finn Orangeburg, SC Arunkant R. Pate1 Lock Haven, PA East-West Cultural Center People 16 Culver City, CA ·sanjiv& Jyoti Pate1 Bedford, PA Alexander & Gardenia Projects 17-18 Gardener Carl Peters and Marcia Solar Concentrating Architectonics San Francisco, CA Pugsley Auroville Centre for Higher Education Psychosynthesis Affiliates Auroville Kindergarten Sam Graves Los Gatos, CA San Diego, CA Rudy Phillips Center News 19-20 Paul E. Herman Ph.D. Ramsey, NJ Boston Study Group Kensington, CA Dr. M. Pualuan Matagiri Bill & Raina Imig Monte Sereno. CA East-West Cultural Center Portland, OR Savitri Solar Village Marcel & Edith Thevoz AUM ‘92 Larry Jacobs Springfield, VA Newport Beach, CA Frederick &. Cheryl Veith Eleanor M. Lovitt Newtown, PA Theme of the Next Issue: Money Auroville, India II Deadline for Contributions:Feb. 10 I

Collaboration (ISSN 0164-1522) is published by Sri Aurobindo Association, Inc., 2550 9th Street, Suite 206, Berkeley, CA 94710, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. Copyright 1991 by Sri Aurobindo Association, Inc. All passages from the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are copyrighted by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram unless otherwise noted and are used here with the kind permission of the Ashram. Photographs of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother appearing on these pages are also copyrighted by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. A one-year subscription is $12; airmail outside the USA and North America is $22. All foreign subscription must be paid with a US dollar draft on a New York bank or an International Money Order. Larger contributions, all tax-deductible, are welcome for the work of the Association. In addition, contributions for Auroville and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram may be made through Sri Aurobindo Association, Inc. Subscriptions should be sent to Sri Aurobindo Association, Inc., 2550 9th Street, Suite 206, Berkeley, CA 94710. Any editorial material should be sent to Gordon Korstange, P.O Box 297, Saxtons River, VT 05154. Printed in the United States of America. The expressed opinions of the authors are not necessarily those of The Sri Aurobindo Association or the editors.

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Doing The Field of Yoga (30-338). It involves Tapasya (the concenttation of the will to conquer the Yoga is "joiniing, union; the union of Sadhana ... lower nature), Aradhana (worship·of the soul with the immortal being and the divine through love, self-surrender, consciousness and delight of the aspiration, calling the name, and Divine; a methodised effort towards in the Yoga prayer), and Dhyana (inner concentta­ self-perfectio1ri by the expression of the tion, meditation, going inside in potentialities latent in the being and By Gordon Korstange Samadhi). (30-p. 541). union of the hwnan individual with the universal and ttanscendent existence." All Life is Yoga. Tiu! first step ofsadhana is "to get a (30-p. 365) Sadhana is tlu! practice of settled peace and silence of tlu! mind .. It is clear from reading Sri Au­ Yoga. (23:541)* . . Aspire to tlu! Motlu!r for this uttkd robindo that practicing Yoga and doing Sri Aurobindo quietness and calm of tlu! mind and this sadhana are one and the same, so it is constant sense of tlu! inner being in you no use foolinit myself about what the T SOME POINT during this standing back.from tlu! external naJwe guru meant bJf the term. Yet, at some summer's gathering in and tMTned to the lighl and Truth ... point, the po~~ntialitus latent in my Madison, Wisconsin I began Tlu!forces that stand in the way of being were touched in a way I cannot A sadhana are tlu! forces ofthe lower forget or e~pe. I was drawn into the to think about the difference between sadhana and Yoga (with a capital letter, mental, vital and physical natMTe. field ("physics: a space wi~ which meaning the Yoga of Mother and Sri Behind tlu!m are tlu! adveru powers of magnetic or electrical lines of force are Aurobindo). Perhaps distinctions I am the mental, vital, and suble physical active") of Srii Aurobindo and the about to explore only pertain to those worlds. Tlu!se can be dealt with only Mother, and ill is to this field that I of us trying to forge and maintain our after tlu! mind and lu!art have become think we refer when we say w.e are "in the Yoga." connection to Them outside of the one-pointed and concentrated in the Ashram and Auroville; perhaps they single aspiration to tlu! Divine." (23- only pertain to me. Nevertheless, 635.()) Ther19 are people when I hear people in the U.S. spealc in the U.S. who do about being "in the Yoga." I lcnow There are people in the U.S. who do what they mean, in a vague sort of such sadhana, I think. They exist on a sadhana, I think. way. It's part of a shared dialect that plane of consciousness somehow They e:11:ist on a plane we use when we're together-but what removed from rap music, Rolling of coinsciousness do the phrases "doing sadhana" and Rock, salaries, and super highways. "in the Yoga" really mean? They have found ways IO ooler their somehow removed lives so that most of what they do from1 rap music, involves, directly or indirectly, the The Seamless, One­ yoga. The rest they ignore. Rollling Rock, Pointed Life salaries, and First some relatively free association. Asfor ow own position it is that supe!r highways. When I think of doing sadhana, I think ordinary life is Maya in this sense, not of the Ashram, of the samadhi, of long that it is an illusion.for it exists and is very real, but that it is an Ignorance, a hours of meditation and sadhaks After having once been in that field absorbed silently in their work. I also thing f olUUU!d on what is from tlu! spiritum point ofview a faluhood. So where I was j4:>lted awake by the think of the Matrimandir woocers Mother's eyes:, I still feel threads of it is logical to a\/Oid it or ratlu!r we are chipping away at concrete for hours connection-;il connection that I hope above the red Auroville earth. Sadhana obliged to halle some touch with it but we minimise that as much as possibk will not be bn:>ken by the clutter of my seems to represent, for me, a seamless, distracted Am1erican life. Maybe this is except so far as it is useful for our one-pointed life that is separated from in mere nostalgi:a., but it is what I have to p,upou." (23-851-2) the ordinary in its absolute dedication work with. to surrendering to the Divine. Sadhaks "Peace is nieve.r easy to get in the don't go to the Indian Coffee house­ I admire these people who devote life of the w01;ld and never constant, or Lindy's Diner. They're not inter­ their American lives to sadhana but am unless one liv,es deep within and bears ested in the Cosby Show. not one of them. If I were able, I the external a:tivities as only a surface Sadhana, wrote Sri Aurobindo, "is would probably have stayed in India. front of being." (23-870) wrote Sri Au­ the practice of yoga; the practice by But for me, it was ... "not helpful to robindo, and so I want to burrow inside which perfection (siddhi) is attained; abandon the ordinary life bef

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soul and body, but a collection of memories, experiences, dreams and idcu in a room that I drift in and out Grace at the All-USA-Meeting of, a room somewhere in my being where I can go and always be safe a For wlien her PersONJlilies are all room with Their photos, incense, ~ gathered in her and manifested and boots, their uparate woriing has been hinted F.ach one of us has our own room into a harmonious Mllity and they nu in her to their SMpramental godheads for sadhana. Perhaps the wallpaper is the tat of Savitri or the Syntltuis of then is the Mother revealed as the ' Yoga; maybe the walls arc white and supramental Maltashabi and brings the room is bare except for two pollTing down her luminous transcen­ 1bcrc are two powers that alone photos dences from their ineffable ether. and a sticlc of smoldering incense; or can effect in their conjunction the grca1 the room has a telephone linked to Sri Aurobindo and difficult thing which is the aim of someone else's room, to be connected our endeavor, a fixed and unfailing by words like samadhi, Aurovillc, or OMETinN HAPPENED at aspiration that calls from below and a Agenda. AUM. Call it what you lite, supreme Grace from above that My room cool.a.ins issues of Col­ S. but something came pouring answers. laboration that continually pull me into down mto thme SO or so aspiring "the field of Yoga" when a new one souls. Call it grace. But the supreme Grace will act only must be added. It also has Indian At the closing circle, person after in the conditions of the Light and the musical inslnllncnts with which I chant person spoke of their gratefulness for Truth; it will not act in conditions laid and sing the names of my gurus. When being at AUM. To be even conscious upon it by the Falsehood and the visitors from AtD"Oville or the Ashram enough to be grateful is a great Ignoomcc. For if it were to yield to the happen by they find a place in my advance, for it is an acknowledgment demands of the Falsehood, it would room. And when the USA family of the grace which in tum is in re­ defeat its own purpose. galhtts for its annual reunion, all of sponse to one's aspiration. It is a our rooms become a house of many gratefulness for life as it can be, not as These are the conditions of the hues where doors swing open and shut it is. Light and Truth, the sole conditions noiselessly. The grace was epitomized in a two­ under which the highest Force will part lalt by C.V . Deva Nair entitled descend; and it is only the very highest It is not absolwely necessary to aban­ "Toward the Great Turning PoinL" supramental Force descending from don the ordinary life jn order to seek Pe~ps it should be called an epic, above and opening from below that can after the LighJ or to practi# yoga. ~th m terms of content and presenta­ viclOrioosly handle the physical Nature This is usWJlly done by thou who want bon. Devan Nair did not merely suffu, and annihilate its difficulties.. . for its to make a clean cw, to livt a purely he was a political prisoner for five creation and its victory over all religious or uclusivtly ucner and years; he did not merely exude man's opposing focccs. spirilWJI life, to renounce the world typical arrogance, he was an "insuffer­ entirely and to depart from the cosmic able~." Let your sincerity and surrender be existence by cessation ofthe hwnan His journey ultimately led him to genuine and entire. When you give birth andpassing away into some the Mother. He had planned to do the yourself, give completely, without higher state or Ullo the transcendental gentlemanly thing and offer a bouquet demand, without condition, without Reality. Otherwise, is is only neces­ of flowers, shake her hand, and say resttvation so that all in you shall sary when the ordinary life is no longer "Good work, Mother." "I can't explain belong to the Divine Mother and compalible with the purnlit of the what happened ncxL" Call it grace. nothing lo be left to the ego or given to dominant spirilWJI objective. Till then The grace was visible at AUM in the any other power. what is ae«ssao is a pqwc, IQ hearts and on the faces. It was practise an uwr imlatioo, IQ be able unmistakable. The more complete your faith, to retire wilbia QMsel(wvl t;011Ccn1rme sincerity and surrender, the more will at any time on lhc acceuary ,Spiruuql I would like to present a quote from grace and protection be with you. And PUCJ10SC fmy IUlderlines). There 1PUI.St Tlie Mot.lier by Sri Aurobindo which when the grace and protection of the also be a power to deal with the will be followed by a compilation on Divine Mother are with you, what is ordinary owe, life from a new inner Grace from Q11ations and Answers by there that can touch you or whom need allitude and one can then make the the Mother which is to be a chapct.r in you fear? A little of it even will carry happenillgs of thal life itself a means the third volume of the Soul Seriu: you through all difficulties, obstacles for the inner change ofnature and the Search for IM Soul in Everyday Living and dangers; surrounded by i&s full growth in spiritWJI experience. (22- (1990), The Soul and its Family (1991- presence, you can go securely on your 147) 1992), Finding the Sow (1992). way because it is hel's, careless of all menace, unaffected by any hostility It is in these rooms, where we WayM Bloomquist however powerful, whether from this practise our inner isolations, that most world or from worlds invisible. Its Of WI do the sadhana . .. in Yoga. touch can tum difficulties into opportu-

4 - · _...... ~ _!82!!!:!!'!!!~«!I!'!!~«!!'!!. ""'··i;(""'"-·-~-=~...... -----~---1 ■ d,fflid@ill.... ------

nities, failure into success and weak­ Contact with Grace then think that you can go fast It takes ness into unfaltering slrength. For the a very long time, sometimes several grace of the divine Mother is the To cast offone's ego, to let it fall off lives, sometimes a greater number of sanction of the Supreme and now or like a useless garment. lives. If you need personal reasons for tomorrow its effect is sure, a thing doing things, you have only to wait till decreed, inevitable and irresistible. The result is worth the efforts that you grow out of it and understand that must be made. And then, one is not all it is not for a personal reason that you alone on the way. One is helped, if one must do things. has bUSt. If you have had even a second's And with the contact with the Grace - that marvelous Grace which carries you along, speeds candour of a child, you on the path, even makes you forget the simplicity of a that you have to hurry - if you have had child for whom This brings us to something else, which only a second's contact with that, then is not positively a question, but a you can strive not to forget And with there are no request for an explanation, a comment the candour of a child, the simplicity of complications, or a development of the subject It is a child for whom there are no compli­ about Grace. cations, give yourself to that Grace and give yourself to let it do everything. that Grace and let I have said somewhere, or maybe it do everything. written, that no matter how great your What is necessary is not to listen to faith and trust in the divine Grace, no what resists, not to believe what matter how great your capacity to see it contradicts - to have trust, a real trust, a at work in all circumstances, at every confidence which malces you give moment, at every point in life, you yourself fully without calculating, For example, it is not for a personal reason that you must want perfection, it never succeed in understanding the without bargaining. Trust! The trust marvelous immensity of Its Action, that says, "Do this, do this for me, I is not for a personal reason that you must want union with the Divine, it is and the precision, the exactitude with leave it to You." which this Action is accomplished; you not for a personal reason that you must will never be able to grasp to what That is the best way. want the supramental transformation. extent the Grace does everything, is (Vol. 9, p. 428) If it is for your own good and for a behind everything, organises every­ personal reason, well, follow your thing, conducts everything, so that the path; I tell you, you will get there - march forward to the divine realisation Contact the Grace for after a certain number of lives. You may be as swift, as complete, as total Personal Reasons? see, there is a state in which one can't and harmonious as possible, consider­ even understand how one can exist ing the circumstances of the world. You have said thal one must know without a personal reason. So long as that witholll the divine Groce one is it is like that... Ifperchance I were As soon as you are in contact with nothing. Then why make such a great suddenly to take away from you your It, there is not a second in time, not a effort to know that one is nothing? personal consciousness and reason, you point in space, which does not show would exist no longer. So you must you dazzlingly this perpetual work of Why make such a great effort? In wait quietly till you can realise within the Grace, this constant intervention of what sense? You want to make this yourself that this is not the true cause the Grace. effort for a personal reason? Is it for of things. your personal satisfaction that you And once you have seen this, you want to make this effort? It is like Is there nothing to be done but to feel you are never equal to it, for you those people who say, "But if it is not I wail? should never forget it, never have any who work and if it is not my work, fears, any anguish, any regrets, any how can I work?" It is the same thing, Eh? Nothing to be done but wait? For recoils... or even suffering. If one were and yet it is like that If you feel like me! .... It is I who mark time waiting in union with this Grace, if one saw It that, it means that you still need, need for you to be ready! everywhere, one would begin living a very much, your ego and that if your (Vol.. 6, pp. 330,331) life of exultation, of all-power, of ego were suddenly taken away from infinite happiness. you, you could no longer do anything. If you need a personal motive in order And that would be the best possible to do something, it means that you are collaboration in the divine Work. still entirely in your ego, you under­ (Mother's Collected Works, Vol. 8, pg. stand. So long as it is necessary, one 251) has to remain in it Only, you must not

5 Gratitude myself out of the difficulty quite well." Why doesn't the blow come all ar once? What is the way to accept the Grace There you are. And then you lock with gratitude? and bolt the door, you see, and you Because that would kill you. For if the cannot receive anything any more. blow is sttoog enou1~ to cure you, it Ahl First of all you must feel the You need once again some acute would simply crush you, it would need for it anguish, some terrible difficulty for reduce you to pulp. It is only by This is the most important point. It this kind of inner stupidity to give way, is to have a certain inner humility and for you to realise once more that How many blows are which makes you aware of your you can do nothing. Because it is only helplessness without the Grace, that when you grow aware that you are needed in life for one truly, without it you are incomplete and powerless that you begin to be just a to know to the very powerless. This, to begin with, is the little open and plastic. But so long as depths that one is first thing. you think that what you do depends on your own skill and your own capacity, nothing, thait one can It is an experience one can very well truly, not only do you close one door, do nothing, that one have. When, you see, even people who but you know, you close lots of doors does not e:1eist, that know nothing find themselves in quite one upon another, and bolt them. You difficult circumstances or facing a shut yourself up in a fortress and one is nothing, that problem which must be solved or, as I nothing can enter there. Thal is the there is n

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Invoking the Grace a very natural movement. little things and big things... 1:ben years pass by, events are unfolded; you Bw, Mother, when OM prays For example, if one has been foolish progress, become more conscious, sincerely for the intervention ofthe or has made a mistake and one truly, understand better, and when you look Grace, doesn't oM expect a particular sincerely wishes never to do it again, back, you notice - first with astonish­ result? well, I don't see any harm in asking for ment, then later with a smile - that it. And in fact, if one asks for it with those very circumstances whkh Excuse me, that depends on the tenor sincerity, a true inner sincerity, there is seemed to you quite disastrous or of the prayer. If one simply invokes a great chance that it will be granted. unfavourable, were exactly th4e best the Grace or the Divine, and puts thing that could have happened to you oneself in His hands, one does not You must not think that the Divine to malce you progress as you should expect a particular result. To expect a likes to contradict you. He is not at all have. And if you are the least bit wise particular result one must formulate keen on doing it! He can see better you tell yourself, "Truly, the d~vine one's prayer, must ask for something. than you what is really good for you; Grace is infinite." If you have only a great aspiration for but it is only when it is absolutely the divine Grace and evoke it, implore indispensable that He opposes your So, when this sort of thing mas it, without asking it for anything aspiration. Otherwise He is always happened to you a number of times, precise, it is the Grace which will ready to give what you ask. (Vol. 8, you begin to understand that in spite of choose what it will do for you, not you. pp. 255,256) the blindness of man and decC]~tive That is better, isn't it? appearances, the Grace is at work everywhere, so that at every moment it Ah! That's quite another question. Infinite Wisdom is the best possible thing that happens Why, it is higher in its quality, If one were in union with this in the state the world is in at that perhaps. But still, if one wants Grace, if one saw It everywhere, one moment. It is because our vision is something precise, it is better to would begin living a life of exultation, limited or even because we are. blinded fonnulate it. If one has a special of all-power, of infinite happiness. by our own preferences that we~cannot reason for invoking the Grace, it is And that would be the best possible discern that things are like this.. better to fonnulate it precisely and collaboration in the divine Work. clearly. But when one begins to see it, one Talk of 1 August 1956 (p. 251) enters upon a state of wonder which Of course, if one is in a state of nothing can describe. For behind the complete surrender and gives oneself The first condition is not very easy to appearances one perceives this Grace · entirely, if one simply offers oneself to realise. It is the result of a conscious infinite, wonderful, all-powerful - the Grace and lets it do what it likes, growth, a constant observation and which knows all, organises all, that is very good. But after that one perpetual experience in life. arranges all, and leads us, whether we must not question what it does! One like it or not, whether we know it or must not say to it, "Oh! I did that with not. towards the supreme goal, that is, the idea of having this," for if one If you have only a union with the Divine, the awareness really has the idea of obtaining great aspiration for of the Godhead and union with Him. something, it is better to fonnulate it in all sincerity, simply, just as one sees it. the divine Grace and Then one lives in the Action and Afterwards, it is for the Grace to evoke it, implore it, Presence of the Grace a life full. of joy, choose if it will do it or not; but in any without asking it for of wonder, with the feeling of a case, one will have formulated clearly marvelous strength, and at the same what one wanted. And there is no anything precise, time with a trust so calm so complete, harm in that. it is the Grace which that nothing can shake it any lomger. (Vol. 8, pp. 256,257) Where it becomes bad is when the will choose what it request is not granted and one revolts. will do for you, Then naturally it becomes bad. It is at not you that moment one must understand that the desire one has, or the aspiration, may not have been very enlightened I have already told you this several and that perhaps one has asked for times. When you are in a particular set something which was not exactly what of circumstances and certain events was good for one. Then at that take place, these events often oppose moment one must be wise and say your desire or what seems best to you, simply, "Well, let Thy Will be done." and often you happen to regret this and But so long as one has an inner say to yourself, "Ah! how good it perception and an inner preference, would have been if it were otherwise, there is no harm in fonnulating iL It is if it had been like this or like that," for ------.19@tM44id,&i-l------TOWARDS THE GREAT TURNING POINT (Part 2) By C. V. Devan Nair humor (and who says wisdom is not disciple of the Mother, 1w written humorous!) :"The pos.,ibility of life about the Shak:ti in inspired language (fext of a talk delivered at thegather­ originating from accidents is compa­ which simply cannot be equalled. I ing of AUM '91 -St Benedict Center, rable to the pos.,ibility of all the cannot do better than quore this Madison, Wisconsin, July 5, '91) volumes of the unabridged Oxford disciple, Satprem : English Dictionary resulting from an We taJk of the power of the atom, Yes, we live in a world of rapidly explosion in a printing shop." the power of Nature, electrical, exploding appearances. They explode Then along came Karl Marx who intellectual or spirilllal power, but right in our faces, and especially in the thought he did one better than Darwin. there is only one Power, not two. faces of our experts, the whiz-kids of According to this mental genius, ...... That Power rose through the modem science, technology, politics evolution was not primarily physical. It ages and the centuries. It built ever and economics, who conjured them up was an evolution of communal living more complex insb'Uments, covered in the first place. Unprecedenled forms, which led to the evolution of itself with one shell or another, ever eruptions in every sphere of human social production in human societies, aspring, ever in search of more thought and activity - in politics, which would culminate in the social space, more light, more earth and science, religion, philosophy. Nothing paradise of world-wide communism. more bodies to embrace, ever is spared, whether without or within us. Today, communism lies in shambles. ascending towards some ineffable Explosions outside, implosions within. And despite the Wall Street Journal totality of itself. It built trap upon What is happening? Where is every­ and the Dow Jones Index, capitalism as trap to annex ever more world IO its thing leading to? we know it is likely to go the same totality, invenled love to bind beings way. together and the millions of species An Evolution of Mind to its earth-it was love itself, the An Evolution of fire burning within, the need to be We know what the modem scientists ever more, to embrace ever more, IO tell us. Our planet began ~ a fiery Consciousness live everywhere and in everything. It meta) ball flung out around a solar But a great, wandering, infallible cast forth galaxies as it cast forth orbit by a mindle~. whirling Sun. Over Intuition, which exceeds all shifting innumerable little animals, as it cast long geological Ages, the earth cooled, mental conclusions. whose time had forth man just a little while ago. the clouds dissolved, and the oceans come, found human vessels of descent With him it reached the conscious fonned. Until, quite fortuitously (so in two extraordinary beings, who knot of its evolution. It strove to they tell us), a Darwinian efflorescence spoke, not from the ~ of the grow more, always, through the of life fonns took place, proceeding by libraries of mental men, nor from their senses as well as the heart and mind, a process of sheer accidents called laboratories and observatories, but capture ever more world within its "natural selection" towards an evolu­ from the heights and the deeps of a tionary culmination in mental Man. great conscious EXPERIENCE. And And the expertS are truly surprised by what did the living Experience reveal? The world's Matter, the extraordinary luck of universal Not a fortuitous evolution of physical our matter, Chaos that it managed to accidently shapes and fonns, nor an evolution of our shells of clay, throw up paragons of Intelligence like communities plant, animal or human, themselves in the mindless immensities but an evolution of consciousness. your's and mine and of physical space. No conscious design Consciousness is the source, Sri everybody's, is Her in evidence anywhere! Only, a purely Aurobindo and the Mother said. shadow. And the accidental collection of molecules of Consciousness is the middle, con­ amino-acid on the slimy shore of some sciousness is the key, consciousness is emergence of Light lifeless, ancient sea, and hey-presto, the goal. And Consciousness, or the from its own nether life began! No magician was present. Great Shak:ti as the Tantric yogis of No HoudinLNot even an expert. It was India call Her, is also, at once, the shadow is evolution. all so entirely "natural". motor and Driver of all the worlds, Very straightforward, very simplis­ both visible and invisible. And She huge net of love-fire, conquer and tic, and very laughable. I am never doesn't stop anywhere. dominate. It even soared to the tired of repeating the SIOry of how a clouds with the ascetics and the British biologist named Cronklin Shakti saints, was dissolved for a few punctured this particular scientific seconds in their contemplation, only balloon. I cannot recall his exact Mineral, plant, insect, reptile, bird, to show up somewhere else and words. But they mammal, ape and man are all tempo­ resume its old, ceaseless conquest. It were to this effect. He remarked with rary transit stations on Her great is the Flame without respite, the evolutionary roure. Somebody else, a

8 need to be that cannot stop so long wecangetsomeideaofwhatSri body's, is Her shadow. And the as it has not become all and forever Awobindo Himself experienced when emergence of Light from its own more. Some call it Desire, Evil, and He first encountered the Great Mother : nether shadow is evolution. If we they try to stifle it to find nameless choose, we can tangibly experience Peace at last; some call it Intelli­ Above them all she stands support­ this evolution, in ourselves and in gence, Power, and they try to ing all, everything around us. harness it to their Machine to stifle The sole omnipotent Goddess ever­ Mental man is no more the end of themselves beneath the very weight veiled the adventure of consciousness on our of their inventions. But it shatters all Of whom the world is the inscru­ planet than was the ape. We will be the traps it has built, breaks men and table mask; exceeded as all life fonns before us the very constructions it tw erected, The ages are the footfalls ofher were exceeded. A radical change of topples Intelligence, topples the tread, consciousness is the crux of the Future. Spirit, topples Desire even when Their happenings the figure of her Humanity is not the last rung of they tie it to a stake, smelts and thoughts, terrestrial creation, said the Mother. resmelts its earthly ore until it has And all creation is her endless act. Evolution continues and man will be found its own secret - it is Shakti, His spirit was made a vessel ofher surpassed. It is for each one to decide the Driver of the worlds, the force, whether he wants to participate in the Reali7.ation, and without her none Mute in the fathomless passion of adventure of the new species. lives and none aspires. She is the his will And Sri Aurobindo : Fire in the atom and the Fire of the He outstretched to her his folded yogi; She is Death always coming hands ofprayer. In the beginning is prepared the undone into life, Nirvana exploding Then in a sovereign answer to his close. into a million new galaxies only to heart This strange irrational product of find her again. Paradises come apart, A gesture came as ofworlds thrown the mire, species come apart, millions of away, This compromise between the beast machines, tricks, traps and inven­ And from her raiment's lustrous and god, tions come apart only to find her mystery raised Is not the crown ofthy miraculous endlessly. That Fire is inextinguish­ One arm half-parted the eternal veil. world. able. From age to age a few have A light appeared still and imperish­ I know there shall inform the incon­ known her Secret. But even that able. scient cells, Secret she brealcs and buries until all Attracted to the large and luminous At one with Nature and al height is ready to experience and build her depths with heaven, secret, for She is ONE in a million Of the ravishing enigma ofher eyes, A spirit vast as the containing sky fonns. She is the Mother of the He saw the mystic outline ofa/ace . And swept with ecstasy from worlds and everything is equally her Overwhelmed by her implacable invisible founts, child. light and bliss, A god come down and greater by the Sri Aurobindo knew her secret. An atom of her illimitable self fall. Mother knew her secret. They were Mastered by the honey and lightning together again because the Time had ofher power, Three-fourths of humanity is come to attempt one more time the Tossed towards the shores ofher obsolete, said the Mother calmly. In great Experience - ...... ocean ecstasy, which case, the question arises : Which Drunk with a deep golden spiritual fourth do we belong to? A good guess Yes, Sri Awobindo and the Mother wine, would be that that fourth would knew Her-experientially. They He cast from the rent stillness of his certainly include those who are slightly experienced Her everywhere, at both soul "cracked", who have suddenly realized extremities, at the utmost Heights and A cry ofadoraJion and desire that the conclusions of the mind are beyond all conceivable summits, as And the surrender of his boundless futile; that new machines, new bomb well as right down in the core of their mind delivery systems, new constitutions, physical cells, in the least atom and And the self-giving of his silent new political and economic panaceas, particle of Matter. They had come for heart. will deliver nothing but spectacular that, to prepare the next great leap in He fell down at herfeet uncon­ new failures, mightier explosions. We Evolution, when : scious, prone. once again recall Sri Aurobindo: The Spirit shall look out through Matter's gaze So, consciousness to emerge from 0 Force-compelled, Fate-driven And Matter shall reveal the Spirit's Nothing? Nothing can evolve out of earth-born race, face. Matter which is not therein already 0 petty adventurers in an infinite contained, Sri Aurobindo declared. It world The Shadow of the was the Supreme Shalcti which had And prisoners ofa dwarf humanity, plunged into Her own shadow. The How long will you tread the circling Supreme Shakti world's Matter; our matter, our shells tracks ofmind From some remarkable lines in Savitri, of clay, your's and mine and every- Around your little selfand petty

9 things? Force, you stop reading, and take a Supramental Shakti. And if, in Her Bill not/or a changeless lillleMss walk, until you find yourself back in wue you meant, ~orn~ion, the Mother released only the old, f~. pathetic bag of skin, m mmutely regulated doses what She Not/or vain repetition were you once agam safely insulated from built; called The Bath of the Lord, it was Infinite Reality. Which was why the because She knew that the full charge Ow ofthe lmmortal's substance you Mother said :Salvation is physical. For were made... w?uld flatten everybody and every­ salvation only comes when the entire thing around Her, like deep sea sprat A Seer, a strong Creator, is within,' being - mind, heart, and body - right The immaculale Grandeur broods which explode if brought up suddenly down to our cells, beome limpid, to the atmosphere above sea-level. upon your days, unobstructed trammitters of the Almighty powers are shill in Infinite Shakli, the Creatrix, the Divine Nature's cells. Mother. The Emperors Try to A greatu destiny awaits you in your Hide front...... The life you lead conceals the light The True Victory Even the most dense of people are you are. Before we proceed, an emphatic beginning to see what the child in Hans reminder of something which becomes Andersen's tale, in that primordial · so overwhelming in its intensity in the clarity of vision which some children "Shall I Take You With fabulous volumes of the Mother's have, saw - the naked emperor! Me?" Agenda. When Sri Aurobindo and the Today, we see them stark naked Mothe.r talked about spiritual victory, eve~where - the mental emperors, I would be an idiot to try and para­ they di~ ~ot mean a victory up above, the vital emperors, the emperors in phrase Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. where 1t 1S possible to vaporise into an politics, economics, saatistics, science, How do you paraphrase an experience? ineffable Nirvana. art,et al ; au of them trying desperately, When something in you responds in a An inner illumination that doesn't and vainly, to hide their nakedness. But totally unexpected way to a sunset, for lake into account the body or external we don't yet see the emerging naked example, you are not responding to a life is fairly useless because it leaves glory of the next consciousness which !ibrary in the sky! When you looked the world exactly as it is, said the will walk the earth. Emerging, not mto the Mother's eyes, it was not a Mother. Right to the end, She sounded merely descending from some height walk into the Ashram Library to read variations on the same essential theme: above. Emerging from physical depths. the books there? You were not even It is in life that the true victory is to be But at least a few have felt strange, responding to an experience? You won. You must know how to be alone powerful stirrings in those depths. cannot. You live iL In fact, your ARE with the Eternal and the Infinite in the This may be the best place to relate the experience. Oh, words are so futile. midst of all circumstances. You must a symbolic vision - Krishna in Gold The most powerfully moving parts of know how to be free, with the Supreme - somebody had in 1958. In the the Agenda are the several occasions for companion, in the midst of all oc­ second volume of his powerful trilogy when the Mother found herself at a cupations. That is the true victay. on the Mother, The New Species, total loss f

10 mythology (blue is the light of the flew off in splinters! His head went human's height, mind and Krishna is the symbol of right through the roof of the Earth's seeing widen into the the higher regions of the mind), and sanctuary, then, laughingly, he tore infinite. he was very much alive and smiling. out the walls with his bare hands, As soon as he saw the young Indian strode over the ruins, strode over the Best not to theorize in mental language girl, he got up, came towards her, gentleman who was beneath the about a non-mental, a supramental took her hand, and notwithstanding debris, and .... everything came to a emergence. For that would sound as the protests of the prominent close in the child's vision with an much gibberish as if the apes had gentleman, he went outside ... into immense burst of laughter. theorized in the language of simian the world. He was no higher than the The divine laughter of the new grunts and gestures about the coming little girl's chest And together they world. of Plato, Einstein or Shakespeare. set out hand in hand : "Wait, 111 Gold is the color of the supermind. Haven't we been deafened enough by show you something ....., " he said, Krishna in gold is growing up the ceaseless mental gibberish of the with a charming, mischievous smile amongst us. Beware of the sanctu­ modem world? Anyway, as the Mother as only Krishna can have, "we are ary. said, quite categorically, ...... it isn't going to have a good time." So off And what is a vision? It is the man who is going to change himself they went, and as they wallced translation, in a visual language of a into superman! ...... That's the point, peaceful folk began to quarrel, quiet phenomenon that can be seen in all you see, it's something else that's'going fields began to swarm with people, kinds of languages, on all kinds of to do the work. But no (yes, there is a towns fell into confusion - he levels, and with as many explana­ "but", I don't want to be cruel), Man sowed chaos everywhere, laughing tions as there are levels. The whole can collaborate. That is, he can lend all the while. A bit uneasy, the little problem is to see things at the right himself to the process, with good will, level. with aspiration, and he can help to his utmost That's why I have said it will Krishna in gold is In the introduction to another re­ go faster. I hope it will go faster. growing up amongst markable book, Mother or The Divine Materialism, Satprem came out with An Ancient Traveller us. Beware of the this: .... BuJ the secret of the next sanctuary world is not in a thoughl. It is supra­ Within All of Us mental. It takes place within the depths How might we collaborate, help to ofthe body, at that knot between life make it go fast.er? Not with our mental girl turned towards him and sud­ and death where.for thefust time, theories or computer projections. But denly noticed that instead of looking something has begun to stir materially there is something within us which can down at him, it was he who was •in the body's cells, at the frontier of recogniz.e the Eternal Shakti, and looking down at her! Her Krishna biology and prayer. With Sri Au­ collaborate with Her. It is a timeless had grown very tall - he had even robindo and the Mother the Great portion of the Shakti Herself, older changed color! Krishna was in gold! Slwlcti had plunged into the physical than our most ancient rocks, older even In solid gold, and yet light, smiling, depths to prepare the emergence of than the Big Bang of our scientists mischievous, gamboling with her what Sri Aurobindo had seen : which is supposed to have spewed through the world. And he kept forth all our galaxies, and yet perenni­ growing and growing and growing. All shall be done for which our pain ally new, as only Eternity can be. It is And as he grew, the chaos kept was borne. an ancient traveller within all of us, growing and growing and growing. Even as of old man came behind the whose only aspiration through the Finally, seeing this chaos every­ beast millennia, through all our countless where, the very dignified and by This high divine successoc surely lives, is to achieve the final, inevitable now indignant gentleman attempted shall come junction with the source and goal of all to lock Krishna back up in his Behind man's inefficjent mortal things. sanctuary (the sanctuary of the pace, behind his vain labour, sweat Many, on rare occasions, have had Mind) so that he could be wor­ and blood and tears; sudden glimpses of this Something , shipped as he ought to be, under He shall know what mortal mind deep within. The occasion may have lock and key, and cease sowing his barely durst think, been anything at all. Perhaps a play of chaos. And Krishna accepted the He shall do what the heart of the colours, some notes of music, a line of gentleman's plea, all the while mortal could not dare. poetry, a gesture, or even a mathemati­ keeping the little girl's hand in his, Inheritor of the toil of human time cal equation. but when he arrived once again at He shall take on him the burden of the door of the sanctuary, he said to the gods; And it is only this Ancient of Days her with a smile in the comer of his All heavenly light shall visit the within who can collaborate in the next eyes : "I'll show you something ...... " earth's thoughts, evolutionary transition. It is what Sri Krishna in gold went back inside The might of heaven shall fortify Aurobindo and the Mother called the and began growing, growing so earthly hearts; psychic being, or soul. Our task is only much that the roof of the sanctuary Earth's deeds shall touch the super- to hasten the final abdication of the

11 ------~■ MttM,kihHhii ■ already naked emperors of our mental in Her work, She gave essentially the kind of automatic procession, as for a and vital egos, and allow the psychic same answer, right to the end. In the king or some other very high dignitary. being to preside over our separate last but one darshan I had of Her, I too In the silence, when the container was unfoldments. And it will be an unerring asked Her the same question. And that opened, one had the feeling that guide in all the adventures to come. frail, white figure, with that incredible something momentous and profound For it has an infallible intuition of the golden glow on Her face, in that had happened, like an awakening. secret Truth in all things. quavering voice, barely audible, which Then everyone hopped up around the seemed to have crossed vast inter- edge of the container and each one in A Temple in Sri Lanka stellar distances, said “In the individ- turn looked down on the crystal ual, it is the psychic that represents the marvel. It is all still waiting there in the A striking illustration, known to very Divine. Find it, and unite with it.” room but now there is a plexiglass top few in a small comer of India (such on the container so that the crystal is things are never reported in the modem The Crystal visible to all. The wonderful atmos- media) might be cited. One of the most phere of the room becomes more violent places in the world today is the About the collective sadhana to be wonderful. north-eastern part of Sri Lanka. Tamil practised in Auroville, She said the I also knew from that Newsletter revolutionaries and Sinhalese burn same thing The first thing needed is that I was not the only one who down each other’s villages amid the inner discovery, to find out what experienced those magical lines from killings galore. The awful carnage has one truly is behind the social, moral, Savitri which I quoted earlier been going on for a long time now. cultural, racial and hereditary appear- Imagine a little temple on the ances. At the centre there is a being, . ..And from her raiment’s lustrous borders of a jungle which straddles free and vast and knowing, who awaits mystery raised these murderous trails. It is a temple to our discovery and who should become One arm half-parted the eternal veil. the Mother Kali, one of the aspects of the active centre of our being and our A light appeared still and imperish- the Great Shakti. A temple tended by a life in Auroville. able.’ very silent, smiling little man, always arranging jungle blooms to offer at the Often, I’ve found myself praying for Mother’s feet. while a traveller the early completion of Matrimandr. I But the killing hordes, whether within us knows the no longer pray, since I came across Tamils or Sinhalese, spare the man. In whole picture and all what the Mother said, only some two fact, they make a little detour when years before Her physical departure : they see the temple and its smiling the strings, all the The Manimandir is directly under the keeper. Some of the killers even fold old and never-lost influence of the Divine and certainly their palms in a sudden gesture of encounters, the He arranges things better than we veneration as they pass or run by with could do ourselves. their rifles or knives. uncompleted And just a year earlier, in 1970 : One day somebody stopped, glared gestures at the smiling keeper, and asked : You, The Matrimandir will be the soul of how can you smile in the midst of all Auroville. this killing? Don’t you see what is hap- Just a few days ago, I recieved a The sooner the soul is there, the pening? And for once, the silent, letter from somebody in Auroville. better it will be for everybody and smiling man spoke. But only three From the way she began that letter, I especially for Aurovillians. words, in Tamil. “Veliye Nindru Par.” almost wept in recognition. “Devan, They translate into four English words: the crystal has arrived,” were the That will be a great symbolic turning “Stand outside and see.” thrilled words. And a couple of days point, when a strange inner and outer Those familiar with the lore of later, I received the M atrimandir acceleration will seize earth and men. eastern tradition, whether Hindu or Newsletter, and read, under a picture of Buddhist or Taoist, would immediately the Crystal The only one of its kind, Japan know what he meant. Stand outside the largest glass crystal globe in the yourself, outside your mind and the world beautiful, priceless, quietly Probably as early as 1916, when passions of your heart, stand within exciting like a great mystical person. Mother was in Japan prior to perma- your soul, and see. Then, everything is Now it is here . . . welcomed warmly at nently rejoining Sri Aurobindo in India seen differently. The very same world, Madras Airport, it was passed through in 1920, there were some who obtained but seen with different eyes. The customs in record time, loaded safely more than an inkling of the great and human caterpillar becomes the spiritual into a van, driven by our statesmanlike fiery Shakti that was in Her. butterfly. emissaries through the night towards It was this spiritual butterfly within its destined home in Auroville. We lived together for a year, the human caterpillar which the Mother Now it is here . . . on the morning of recalled an elderly Japanese gentle- sought to bring out in everybody who April 27th it was hoisted in its special man by the name of Ohkawa. We sat approached Her. To all those who container up to the Inner Room of together in meditation every night asked Her how they could collaborate Matrimandir. It was ushered in with a for an hour. I practiced Zen and they

12 practiced yoga...... There was a The Great Turning light in her eyes like that of the great She wanted to meet him alone the morning of the world that~ about Point first time. They had lande.d (perhaps to dawn ...... She had a will that Which brings us to the Great Turning not by accidel~t) al Dhanllfflkodi, all moved mountains and an intellect Point of the next cycle of the evolution the way in the: south, not far from sharp as the edge of a swooi. Her of Life on our planet - the Supramental the great temple of Rameshwaram, thought was clarity itself and her Age - which began on March 29, whose high purple towers rose resolve slIOllger than the roots of a 1914, the day on which Sri Aurobindo above dunes of white sand-the giant oak...... An artist. She could and the Mother, once again met on the temple of mental man's fust Avatar paint pictures of an unearthly loveli­ physical plane. The most powerful, the and of his wifo, Sita, who was ness. A musician, She enchanted my most beautiful evocation of that swallowed alive by the earth she soul when She played an organ or encounter is one given by Satprem in guitar. A scientist. She could his book The Divine Materialism. I formulate a new heaven and earth. a take the liberty of quoting some For somE~, everything new cosmogony. I do not know luminous paragraphs what simply what Mirra had not become or was cannot be improved upon: coincides, every not capable of becoming ...... She gesture and every was beautiful in Western clothes. He whom we saw -yesterday is on encoun1ter, and the And She looked Slll)mSingly lovely earth. when She wore a kimono. If I could whole universe down see her now, I would surely have Thus She simply noted their first to the m1ost minute said that She looked equally lovely encounter, on March 29, 1914. detail is a fabulous in an Indian saree ...... How could I, Exactly as in my vision. It~ not a who lived in the very heart of Hindu divinity; it was Sri Au­ encounter ... Fujiyama, tell you about the volume robindo. There was such a tender­ of its fire and flame and the dimen­ ness in her voice whenever She loved-perha1ps to pay homage to sions of its light pronounced that name: "Shri that story of the past before going to Aurobin'do." I heard her say it meet the future. She already felt that Mother recorded in her journal a thousands of times, and each time, something tha1t one breathes in the tremendous experience which marked even after fifty-nine years, there was atmosphere of the country. They the end of her stay in Japan : the same love tinged with sweetness arrived in Poodicherry by train. Her and veneration, a second's pause in eyes turned within, She saw nothing. I was intensely concentrated, asking the middle of a sentence, a faint We picture her with her tulle veil the Lord, "This is it. I had sworn to smile in her half-closed eyes, and over long, flowing hair simply You that I would do it I had even one could feel Sri Aurobindo right parted in the middle, a very white said, 1f I have to go down into hell, there, in an envelopment of pale hand holding 1the veil against the I will go down into hell to do it" blue light~ost white, whitish­ gusts of the sea breei.e. On the Now tell me what I should do." blue and very luminous. She never afternoon of 'March 29, She walked Evidently, the Power was there-all pronounced that word carelessly. It alone towards a large, columned of a sudden everything became still was like a mantra. Shri Aurobin'do house, slight!)' dilapidated from the in me; the whole outer being was was there as if they were totally one, monsoons, pe1rhaps with a beating completely stilled, and I had a vision with sometimes her in the forefront, heart, in the silence of life's m~ of the Supreme ...... more beautiful sometimes him. "Him" was that ments when one knows without than the one in the Gila. A vision of vast. comprehending softness. With knowing. No.41 rue Francois the Supreme. And this vision Sri Aurobindo you always felt you Martin. A big postem gate with literally took me into its arms, were entering infinity-and so, so capitals adorned with vines of turned towards the west, towards soft! It was always the feeling of .... quisqualis, which She would call India, that is, and I saw that Sri something "soft," I don't know, "faithfulness,"' an open door, a Aurobindo was at the other end. It vibrations that always made you feel neglected cowrtyard with a few was... I felt it physically. I saw it, wider, that soothed you-you felt banana trees and weeds, a ground­ saw it-my eyes were closed, but I your were in contact with something floor veranda with high colonnades, saw it Indescribable. It was as if boundless. Indeed, boundless. It did a stairway to the right that immensity were reduced to a not stop al any poinL You were rather giant being, which lifted me taken far away from yourself - I went up l1lie stairs and he was up like a feather and then offered which was perhaps your pure self - standing al llu~ lop ofthe stairs, . me. Not a word, nothing, just that on great wings of snow. Just one wailing/or nu~. Exaclly as in my Then everything vanished...... The second, She closed her eyes and it vision. Dressed in the same way, IM next day I began preparing for my was there. Forever. A name that same posilion,. in profile, his head return to India incarnates an experience, that holds held high. He ,turned his head the power of an experience. That is towards me a,,,d I saw in his e-yes the manlra, Shri Aurobin'do ..... that ii was He .. Both things went like

13 . how She always thought of the Earth! The Earth's beauty, the Earth's greatness, the Earth's realization! Mother was perhaps the Earth's aspiration within one small body

this, and the iMer experiences great eternal Work and come back Such is the mystery of the Shakti. immediately joined with the outer together, life after life, to make ever experience and there was a merging, more little points aware of the great It was that Great Turning Point, which the

14 ------~1-m,@zn0;■,------New Age, New Consciousness, New Species

By Eugene Finn

ms WAS 1HE VISION, the signposts for anyone who is drawn by and matter. It should be obvious that prophesy, the Realization of Their brilliance to follow. as we are constituted now, we cannot T Sri Aurobindo, the great sage To break down the limitations of the continue for very long. We know all of India at the tum of the century. It present evolutionary structure is not an the problems that our race is facing and was also the great future promised by easy path as anyone making this we even know in a general way how ao His collaborator the French lady, Mirra extremely difficult auempt will attest resolve these problems and yet every Richard, called by many of Their to. Still this journey must be taken, day these threats to our very existence adherents "The Mothec." and if the will, dedication, and sinca­ loom larger and we tty by the use of These were no impractical dffluners ity are there, the difficulties will be palliatives, nostrums and not even half­ building castles in the air, but two very OVttcOme and the obstacles that look hearted solutions. These are like practical people with Their feet planted insurmountable with the help and putting bandaids on cancer. finnly oo the earth. Sri Aurobindo was guidance that one gets on this path are the voice and the initiator of the Indian of such a force that the obstacles will movement for Indian independence. either shauer or disintegrate under its The new manifest NeJvu, who was Gandhi's protege, ~un:. This we will find out from and organized understudy. and first Prime Minister of our own experience. Supramental world is India, said of Aurobindo, "He set the Here is a quote from Sri Au­ stage for Gandhi's movement." robindo's revolutionary days that at the already in the Sri Aurobindo was also a great time related to the new political and process of creation revolutionary, poet, philosopher, revolutionary situation that was in the and all the energies psychologist, historian, playwright, process of organizing ilSelf. political scientist, metaphysician, and are turning or are the list could go on and on. He was a When the word of the Eternal has being turned towards giant whose work in any one of these gone abroad, when the Spirit moves the new fields would have placed Him among ovec the watecs and the waters stir the immortals. and life begins ao form then it is a manifestation But all these achievements, great as law that all enecgies are forced to they are, pale alongside His real work direct themselves consciously or un­ and reason for being, the establishment consciously, willingly or against Up until now, Nature has created on earth of a New Consciousness He their will, to the one supreme work the conditions under which the called Supramental or Truth Con­ of the time, the formation of the new evolution proceeded, provided the sciousness which will 11ansform mind, manifest and organized life which is impetus, shaped, molded, drew the life, and body into Their Divine in the process of creation. subject that was being p-epatt.d for the absoJutes and bring to the human race a next step. The animal did not con­ Divine Life on earth that was pomised So now th.al same law holds ll'Ue. sciously collaborate in the step to the by Christ almost 2000 years ago. The new manifest and organiz.ed human, the plant did not consciously He and The Mothec, Mirra Richard, Supramental world is already in the collaborate to bring about the manifes­ who was of equal stature and equal process of creation and all the energies tation of the animal out of itself. We status and of the same consciousness as are turning or are being turned towards could say that it was ~ Sri Aurobindo, spent Their whole lives the new manifestation. This is the evolution of the subject but a super­ to establish this New Consciousness in reason for all the chaos, misdirection, conscious evolution by universal Their own mincb, lives, and even down violence, pollution, ignorance, and Nature. to the very cells of Their bodies. One falsehood that is seeming to engulf us The human is the first subject of has only to study Them with an open and even threaten our very exislence. evolution conscious enough IO collabo­ mind and heart and body to see that We will eithtt tum towards this new rate and cooperate and become the They have gone far enough along this Truth that is seeking IO manifest or conscious partner of Nature in Ha­ path of transformation to insure that Nature will tum us, and we can see evolutionary movement from incon­ this New Consciousness bas been already that Her way will not be gentle scient mauer to slightly conscious established in the the earth nature. if we dare IO resist Her intention in us. plant, to semiconscious animaJ, IO not They showed by Their own example When we say that this is Her intention fully conscious human, to Supermen­ that it could be done. They instructed in us, we say it because it is as inevi­ tally conscious being. those around Them in this path, and table th.al the Supramenlal or Truth If we can see the possibility, the They set down in writing and in Consciousness become manifest out of probability, or if we are really fortunate recording, with painstaking and inanimate matter and as inevitable as IO see the inevitability of this opportu­ meticulous care, the guidelines and when mind became manifest out of life nity to collaborate in this movement,

15 ~ ~.,...: .. --==:..~ -~.~ -=:::;;;:" =r •~ ...:;:;::: ..:: .=- =::~-=,.,~,, =·;;-::.. :r. --:::;~--11-@i@hH@■,--======;;==~=-:===1=-=--===-=-=~-

we will find the justification for all the when He was awaiting trial in the Here to the wind-swept uplands travail and suffering that our race bas Alipore Jail on charges of treason and a ascend. gone through since a thinking being probable death sentence. began to inhabit the earth. I am the lord of tempest and mountain, Sri Aurobindo and The Mother will Invitation I am the Spirit of freedom and pride. take us by the hand and lead us inch by Stark must he be and a kinsman to inch, step by step, mile by mile out of With wind and the weathei' beating danger this world of darkness, deceit and round me Who shares my king;dom and walks at dissolution into a new age, a new Up to the hill and the moorland I go. my side. consciousness, a new species of Light, Who will come with me? Who will Truth and New Creation. climb with me? If we are of such an independent Wade through the brook and tramp Eugen. "lllclcy" Finn lives in Boxton. nature that we do not wish to take through the snow? He was featured in the Fa/llWinter guidance from anyone, then we must 1989-90 issue of Colllaboration. SH look deeply inside ourselves and find Not in the petty circle of cities Center News for a "'POrt on the study the Guide or Guru that is within us all. Cramped by your doors and your walls group of which he Is a part. However, this method is not without its I dwell; dangers, for we may find ourselves Over me God is blue in the wellcin, seeing false lights and may mistake Against me the wind and the storm them for the Truth, or we may find rebel ourselves listening to the voices of our own ego and mistake these for the I sport with solitude here in my voice of Truth. Either error could regions, cause a long delay in our progress or Of misadventure have made me a even a disaster. friend. Let us close this article with a poem Who would live largely? Who would by Sri Aurobindo written 81 a time live freely?

From a Bhakta

People Aurobindo, Aurobindo, You are my Lord, You are my life. Healing." For further information I offer up my daily work and Due to the presence of Kailesh offer up my snrife. Jhaveri and Richard Pierson of the about this ao,hbout monthly medita­ Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Miriam Belov tions in New York City, call her at (212) 956-LOVE. You have made me strong in arranged for a talk at the Indian many ways, Consulate in New York City at the end You have made 1rnc see my Seyril Schoeben gave a talk and of September. Kailesh gave a wonder­ soul. ful speech entitled "Sri Aurobindo and reading of passages from Savitri entitled "Woman of the Future" at the I have a lot of io've to give His Relevance to the Modem World." While following my goal. Richard then read from Savitri, adding Spiritual Unity of Nations Conference in Boulder, Colorado on October 12. a powerful, mantric quality with his In days to come I will try my She reports that at a climatic moment unique voice. best during the reading, the main door of We would like to thank the Consul To keep you in 1111y mind. the auditorium suddenly slammed shut General, Mr. Rao, and especially his The with a loud sound, and that members of path is hard sometimes in charming wife, Mrs. Rani Rao, for life, the audience, who were not necessarily their receptivity. But oh you ares.:, kind. Later in the month, we gathered devotees, felt the presence of the Mother in the room. and saw Richard and Kailesh's slide So as I follow you my Lord The same reading ~ given again show about flowers and their mes­ In spirit and in pride, as a concert reading and healing sages. It is exquisite and all of us were I will love you amd hope to be meditation 81 the East-West Cultural deeply moved by the psychic reso­ Forever at your side. nance and beauty it conveyed. Center in Los Angeles on October 27. On December 11th, Miriam will be By Mary (An:gel) Fmn giving a lecture 81 the Open Center in Written on Sri Aurobindo's New York City on "The Mother and Birthday

16 ------lli1M@tiiddhll------Projects

Solar Concentrating Architectonics

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)-Design Arts Program recently awarded a grant titled “Solar Concen- trating Architectonics” to Joel Goodman to study two, West-East Section drawing of solar bowl concentra!DI' roofs for restaurant, laundry, food storage, and workShops solar two-axis tracking concentrator mirror collectors, within other south India sites because a clear exchange between silver, adhesive, and architectural form and structure. The span roof-mirror support could be cement compatible for the long life of two solar concentrator configurations economical for 0 degree inclination the investment? are (1) a stationary spherical segment apertures. Resolution of a key research If you interested in further informa- reflector with tracking line’ focus issue, of back-silvered glass mirror tion, please contact Joel Goodman, RR receiver (solar bowl), and (2) interior segments adhered to cement panels is 1, Box 193-A. Ridgeway, Wisconsin heliostats, i.e. tracking primary required for project advance. If 53582 (583) 753-2523. Contributions reflectors that focus into stationary cement panels are used, is the ion for a solar bowl mirror panel project optical element receivers, within can be sent to AVI-USA. glazed solariums. Bryan Walton participated in the proposal, and is Auroville Centre for Higher Education planning to do the photography of architectural models. This project seeks to create “After during which he gained experience of The origins of this study began in School,” a centre that would supplement correspondence courses. He will be Auroville. In 1982, a test solar bowl the present Auroville education system. assisted in running the centre by collector was being constructed by It would allow older students to experienced Auroville educators and John Harper and team, and Joel was continue their studies up to university backed up by the Sri Aurovindo asked about the architectural possibili- entrance standard within the Auroville Institute of Educational Research. A ties for solar bowls. After beginning community, rather than forcing many of number of teachers have already studies in Auroville, Joel visited the them to seek education opportunities offered to supervise higher educational French Pericles solar bowl project at elsewhere, as is the case now. studies in English literature, French CNRS-Marseille and met Dr. B. The project’s objectives are: (1) To literature, mathematics, computer Authier (project leader). The Pericles create within 3 years an integrated science, and philosophy. What is bowl was being shipped to Recife, learning centre for further education in required is suitable accommodation Brazil. Joel became a research Auroville, including facilities for and study materials. associate and consultant to the private study, reference, audio-visual At present, an incomplete building Crosbyton Solar Power Project, the US aids, lectures, and tutorials; (2) To is available on the Last School campus, Department of Energy funded solar provide within one year the opportunity and it is intended to adapt and refurbish bowl project at Texas Tech University, for 8-10 students to pursue further it as a centre for higher educational Lubbock, Texas. educational studies under guidance in 4- studies. The interior heliostats architectonics 5 major disciplines; (3) To energize and The fact that construction has begun originates from the solar optical vision further enrich the present Last School on the building has been received of Matrimandir. If this is a symbol of campus; (4)To attract, both from within enthusiastically in Auroville, and many future realizations, then what could be and outside Auroville, educators willing kids are looking forward to being able the future realizations? to participate in a further education to work there-It has also inspired a The NEA study will be for AUM programme in the unique environment young Aurovilian, now studying in latitudes: however there will be related of Auroville; (5) To experiment with Kodaikanal, to complete his term there studies for the Auroville Solar Bowl and evolve educational approaches and return to help set up the project. Project. Recently, Gilles of CSR in appropriate to Auroville, while satisfy- If you wish further information or to Auroville wrote expressing interest in ing the highest academic standards. contribute in some way, contact Luc solar bowls for a new restaurant-cum- The expertise necesary to realize Gastmans, Auroville Centre For Higher laundry that is being planned. such a project is available in Auroville. Education, Bharat Nivas, Auroville A solar bowl concentrator roof The coordinator, Luc Gastmans, has 605 10 I, India or Collaboration could be interesting for Auroville and recently completeled his ‘A’ levels, (802)869-2789.

17 ------.... ■ if,Mtldihhif ■t------Auroville Kindergarten was built a few years ago, invited us to garten in the coming year, as the use one of their rooms. One of our number of children from newcomers teachers and nine children will move and returning Aurovilians are not to be The monsoon is here! The children, there in November. In this way, foreseen. Auroville’s population is bright as flowers in their colorful sufficient space for new children growing slowly but steadily, and with raincoats, cheer up the wet and muddy awaiting admittance into the Kinder- intermediate jolts that do burst the garden despite the streaming rain. garten will be created. narrow seams of our improvised Water, water everywhere. but not in Most of the children who leave are Kindergarten buildings. A new my classroom! Hoping this to be the seven years old. They know some Kindergarten is unavoidable, necessary last time we have to renew the roof, we basics of reading, writing, and arithme- to house and educate those small had it done with keet (thatching) and tic, but not yet sufficient to join Aurovilians coming from each and straw. This way it should last up to Transition school fully. The school every comer of this globe. five years or more, and by then we day at Transition is an hour and a half The Foundation For World Educa- should have a new building. The other longer than in the Kindergarten, but for tion expressed the desire to grant seed classrooms had to have new window- the time being our nine will be given money towards the building of a new panes and a bit of cement between the special transport so they can have the Kindergarten. We express gratitude tiles to make them waterproof. same school day as in the Kindergar- for this, and we hope that their initia- On rainy days the darkness is still a ten. Going with their class teacher tive will be followed by many people problem, as there are a lot of power should also give them support and in the USA. If you would like to help, cuts, and we have to work by candle confidence for being among the older please do so and send your cheque to light. But, as if to compensate for this children. They themselves like the AVI-USA where more information on inconvenience, the coziness of the idea very much, and we hope this this project is available. classrooms invites the children to support will make up for their imma- Miriam Eckelmann really concentrate. turity. Certitude-Auroville Lack of space in the Kindergarten It is always a guess how many new 605101-Tamil Nadu-India has become a major difficulty. The children will need to join the Kinder- Transition (elementary) school which

Center News

Boston Study Group ~Matagiri Sri Aurobindo Kailas and Richard from the Sri Center Aurobindo Ashram paid us a second 91 Kilmarnock Street visit, and presented their slide show in Boston, Ma 02215 HC 1, Box 98 flowers and their meaning in Wood- Mt. Tremper, NY 12457 stock. Other recent visitors were Cliff and (914) 679-8322 Akiko Gibson from Japan (Cliff is a Activites in Boston by our group former resident of Matagiri); Rusty seem to be on Wednesday evening. We Matagiri has had numerous visitors Selhorst from North Carolina; Dana have a reading where each person in the last few months. On August 15, Wells and his family from New usually reads a page or two from the Pate1 family from Philadelphia Hampshire; Hadassah Haskale from Savitri. visited and brought a sumptuous Indian Israel; and Renu and Neeti Ray and There are basically seven to lunch which they shared with us as their daughter from Canada (they have fourteen people who attend. Most well as with two other visitors, Helen recently established a center there). choose to read, although it is not Lee her son Todd from Connecticut. Georges Dandrimont from France obligatory. After the reading we have Our celebration of Sri aurobindo’s spent two weeks with us and helped us a twenty minute meditation that begins birthday was actually held on August double the size of our gift shop, which with five minutes or so of Sunil's 17, and 30 people attended, among sells the handmade paper from the music, usually from Savitri, after them Sam Gorbaty from Russia who Ashram and marbled silks as well as which we usually discuss various now lives in New York City (he other items. aspects of Yoga. The group meets returned to the city the day of the Mr. and Mrs. V. Subbarao of the about seven o’clock and breaks up abortive russian coup). In this connec- State Bank of India in New York paid about eight-thirty or nine o’clock. We tion , we have received several letters us avisit and were shown our bookstore also distribute some writings by Sri from people in Russia requesting and library. Professor Vimala Devi Aurobindo and the Mother. information about Sri Aurobindo and also visited and showed some of the Eugene (Mickey) Finn Auroville. herbal health-care products she had

-18 ------4■ u;&znm,■,------developed and which are sold in the pink marble lotus. They were hav~ ever had. We cannot express our Pondicherry at Auro Pharma Several radiant wilh the prospect of receiving grautude for all he brings. His Aurovilians also "dropped in": Dee presence and guidance are a continuing Decew, who has done work wilh the Sri Aurobindo's Relics. The rest of the room glowed in silent anticipation, part of our lives and our work. villagers in Auroville, spent a day and devotees sitting, encircling the shrine, We were able to attend one of his night wilh us; J. Raju, who had just others in chairs, in the garden just lectures, which he gave at Loyola­ completed a year's work at Alaska outside lhe large open doors. Marymount University for the depart- Pacific University; and Perumal, At exactly 8 p.m., the cement ~na. and Auroprem, who took part ma PeaceTrees program in New York was prepared and then applied to lhe mitered edges of the white City. marble cube which holds the Several people have also used our extensive library, which continues to sacred treasure. and to the edges grow. Among some 20 new books are of its top. With his deep devotion, Dr. Maheshwari put in Mother's Agenda, Vol. 7 (1966); Tails place the 7-sheathed container wilh Sri Aurobindo, (Vol. 4); VigMt~s in which Sri Awobindo had ofSri Aurobindo and the Mother; been brought to America, and Guidance in Work: and Sri Aurobindo the cube was pennanently L-R:Chandi, Jayashree, Debashish, Jim, Russ, or. as a Polilical Thinlcer. sealed. 1Mahelhvari. Sluart, Robert. Mary & Arya. Mario Our next major event is Mother's Rising from the silence, Mother's ment of philosophy, and witness his birthday observance, to be held on Saturday, Feb. 22, 1992. Evezyoneis 1972 New Year music amplified the informative, sometimes humorous presence of the Ashram and iis profound introduction to basic Indian welcome to attend, but please call or disciples. Then, silent meditation for philosophy. He awakened the audi- write in advance. 30 minutes. We Wel'e all together. ence to realms they had never known. Eric Hughes You cam~ join all Her other Then he led us with Sri Aurobindo's children. Afterwards, our individual light into our rapidly approaching East-West Cultural pranams to Sri Aurobindo's Relics future. Center cootinued that union ... and special Dr. Maheshwari has returned to the prasad was SCl'Ved in the garden. Ashram and from Novembel' 4th 12329 Marshall St. The vibration of Sri Awobindo's delivers a series of lectures and classes Culver City, CA 90230 force filled lhe night air, His JX)Wer in the north of India. (310) 390-9083 pel'ffleated everything, everyone. It On October 27, we wel'e rewarded does so today and will always. with Seyril Schochen's presence and or 375-2966 the presentation of her beautiful It was every bit as awe-inspiring as dramatic reading, "Savitri, Woman anticipated-the installation of Sri of the Future." If you haven't heard Aurobindo's Relics on His birthday, it, a high-level treat awailS you. Her August 15. We were so moved so time was limited, but Seyril was ~led that evening, we will ne~ forget able to stay for our Monday night 1t, not any of us. The most notable group, "The Future Poetry," adding element was lhe JX)WCl' of lhe silence .. hel' welcome contributions to this meeting of poelS. You may remembel' our telling you in lhe last issue that Dr. H. Maheshwari Sri Aurobindo Learning had come to the wt-West Cultural Center, Inc. Center about the first of August. Around.,. lhrirw: Debashiah, 0.-. MINlhwlri, Savitri House & Mother had, of course, guided it well, Stuart, Mary because with Dr. Maheshwari's insight, Savitri Solar Village the preparation and then the ceremony As a result of His presence, the Baca Grande, P.O. Box 80 were meticulously planned and carried programs at the Center are amplified: detailed interest is heightened, commit­ Crestone, CO 81131 out IO the minute. ment to the intense sadhana which our At 7:45 p.m., the Vandanam, an Supramental Yoga demands is inspired invocation to Mother and the Lord, Global Village Network and guided. Somehow, the Center Conference Report filled the building. At 7:55, the music itself and the people seem beautified. slowly faded into silence, and those Again we extend the warm invita­ who were IO do the actual installation tion for you to come, experience and A collage of practical information came into the purity of Sri Aurobindo's share this wonder of the Divine. and visionary inspiration, a feast of white room. Our study-program and sadhana images musical and visual, a celebra­ The single light from high above while Dr. Maheshwari was here was tion of local projects and global shone on the white marble shrine and the busiest and most concenttated we connections. That was the Second

19 ------49iiM@IM@i■r------

All-USA-M:eeting '92 AUM '92 is a collaboration of people in different geographiical locations, connected with each oil.her and with you via phone, fax, moden11, and mail. The site is Warren Wilson College in the Blue Ridge Mountains, near Asheville, North Carolina. The program, including children's activities, will be based on your input Begin now thinking olf what you would like to discuss/share v.rith others. Ask your kids what they want to see happen this year. The opening sessions will be with kids and adults matching their interests with othecs. The center of 1the circle where we sit has large felt-tip m,uters and sheets of paper (newsprint). Everyone who wants to writes a topic of a s.ession or event they want to help happen. Each person in the 1group then stands up, inlroduces themselves, announces what they have writtern, and tapeS their Annual Global Village Network culture. Dr. Sartaj S. Mathur of the sheet to a large blank wall. Similar topics Conference held in the Baca. August Indian Embassy in Washington D.C. and interests can be ta11)ed near each 15-18, 1991. gave a slide presentation on new other. After completinu this, a phase of The raison d'etre of these conft>L­ products and technologies in renewable marketplace negotiatio111 decides how, ences is Savitri Solar Village, a project energy sources. RoseMarie and Stuart when, and where the s.essions and events of the Sri Aurobindo Leaming Center Garry put on a delightful flute and harp will happen. It works like this: Everyone and its dittietor, Seyril Schoeben. concert in the new dome. In the goes up to the wall and writes their name Seyril's vision is to construct a model evening, Richard Peirson presented a on the papers of topics they want to village on 67 acres of land at Baca lovely slide show of The Mother's use attend. 1bose who wn>te the topics can Bluffs donated by the Manitou of flowers in her work. decide to combine similar topics into one Foundation. It will be linked to Saturday's highlights included two session. Those who wirote the topics can Auroville, India. an international presentations by Arvind Habbu and the also note time and plac:e when that community founded by The Mother in Alternative Energy Fair at Crestone session or event will oc::cur. There is a lot 1968. Creek Park. In the morning, Mr. of milling around and discussion. Participants to the conference came Habbu described a mind-boggling new Though the scene look:s chaotic, the from Asia, Latin America and the source of free enttgy about to break process of setting a schedule usually United StaleS. It began with the upon the world scene. This source of takes about 15 minutes,! inauguration of the new Solar Dome energy is hue

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