WINTER 1983 MT. TREMPER, N.Y. 12457, U.S.A. VOL.XN0.2

1950 Darshan of and The Mother. Photo courtesy . It seems as though the publication of others are spread out from New Jersey There is also an article by David this issue of Collaboration has put all of to Florid~ to Houston to Iowa City to Wickenden on one of the newest us, readers, contributors and editors, to Billings, Montana and a host of small theories about the developement of the test. Our readers have probably towns and cities in North America. human consciousness. Many of you will been wondering if we are still in Most of us work hard to survive. At the find yourselves in "morphic resonance" business. Our contributors have been same time, we all carry a little spark of with this revie_w of Rupert Sheldrake's waiting to see their work. The editors Auroville, the Ashram or the Yoga with work because of your past experience have been on the move: Margo to us. Sri Aurobindo and The Mother are with Sri Aurobindo and The Mother's Boston; Navaja to California; and present, whether in the background or writings. Gordon and Jeanne to a new house. foreground, in our work, homes and As usual we have included "Between Nevertheless, here is the proof that we thoughts. As a collective aspiration Two Worlds" the journal excerpts of are still dedicated to this journal. In fact Collaboration can keep before us- the Dick Batstone. There are also many we've been working and thinking about vision of Sri Aurobindo and The news items from around the US and this issue since July. Mother as well as give a picture of how, from Auroville, as well as two proposals when, and where this vision is for us to consider from George It was then that we set off across the manifesting in America. Nakashima and Arya Maloney. USA in our little Honda. One of the This issue reflects the work which has Finally we hope that the extracts goals of our trip was to meet with been going on in the USA through two from the works of Sri Aurobindo and friends of Collaboration and find out significant events that happened on The Mother bring harmony and light what they wanted to see and hear from August 15th of this year. These were the into this issue. On a cold, windy day in it. We had a sense of the role it played registering of Auroville International in November we hope that there is but hoped to find out if others felt that it the Netherlands and the meeting for Sri something in Collaboration which will could be a forum for communication in Aurobindo's birthday at Willow Gold touch that inner spark we all carry and this country. in Wisconsin. The first is reported by perhaps help us to weather the coming Driving back to the midwest through Constance Walker who has given time, winter. Write to us. Send contributions. the mountainous, semiarid areas of thought and energy to realizing this new Our goal is to make this journal a Nevada and Utah brought back many organization. Talking with him at his collective vehicle of communication memories of hot Auroville days. There home in Santa Cruz, California we about the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and was time and space to think about how realized how thoroughly he had worked The Mother in our lives. Collaboration could connect people to revise and help to write the charter separated by such vast distances. There for Auroville International. He THE IDEAL OF are many Aurovillians, Ashramites and communicated with many Americans followers of Sri Aurobindo and The and Aurovilians in order to represent -HUMAN UNITY Mother living in this country. Some our perspective at the meeting in have congregated in California and the Laubach, W. . Constance's (On October 2, in towns and cities all New York-New England area. Many article is a clear, concise description of over America, people walked together the formation of A VI, its present status, for a distance of6 miles in protest ofthe TABLE OF CONTENTS and the vision of what it can become. Editorial Page I nuclear arms race. As one among 100 All of us who were able to attend the people from my town I walked through Jean & Gordon Korstange meeting at Willow Gold felt that new Extracts from the Ideal Page 2 the rain and shared in the spirit of a of Human Unity Jean Korstange forms of organization for carrying on common aspiration for the life of this The Unmanifested Element the Yoga here had to be created. earth to be truly protected rather than Mother's Agenda Vol.III Auroville International has a written be destroyed through the accumulation I Am With You Page 3 structure. The living body of its and use of atomic weapons. Mother's Agenda Vol.I participants and the work it can do are Auroville International Page 5 still in the future. Constan~ Walker It was also evident to us that places An Unexpected Departure Page 7 like the Willow Gold Community, with Collaboration (ISSN 0164-1522) is published by Matagiri Sri Aurobindo Center, Inc., Mt. Tremper, NY 12457, a non­ David Wickenden its business, Global View, was one of the profit, tax exempt organization. 1983 by Matagiri Sri Getting There Page l l new places in the US where people Aurobindo Center, Inc. All passages from the works of Sri Gordon Korstange could find information, products and a Aurobindo and the Mother are copyrighted by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram unless otherwise noted and are used here The Learning Exchange Page 13 vibrant working community here. with the kind permission of the Ashram. Photographs of Sri Interview with Suzanne McDonald Another new center which offers Aurobindo and the Mother appearing in these pages are also Between Two Worlds Page 17 these things is the Merriam Hill Center copyrighted by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Dick Batstone A one-year subscription is SS.00; ainnail outside the U.S. in Greenville, New Hampshire. Thus we and North America is SI0.00. All foreign subscriptions must The Mother's Sutras interviewed Suzaune McDonald who be paid with a U.S. dollar draft on a New York bank or an Mother's Agenda Vol.I International Money Order. organizes the student exchange Larger contributions, all tax-deductable, are welcome for General News Page 18 programs between Merriam Hill and the work of the center. In addition, contributions for Auroville. This interview shows that Auroville and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram may be made Center News Page 21 through Matagiri Sri Aurobindo Center, Inc. Americans are interested in the Subscriptions should be sent to Matagiri Sri Aurobindo News from Auroville Page 22 experience which Auroville has to offer, Center. Inc., Mt. Tremper, NY 12457. and that there are many ways of Any editorial material should be sent to Jeanne Korstange. 5 Sunnyslope Dr., Middletown, CT. 06457 Page 24 Poems organizing and facilitating this Printed in the United States of_America. exchange. 2 THE IDEAL OF and vital form. The inner spirit is indeed The Unmanifested Element one, but more than any other the September 29, 1962 spiritual life insists on freedom and (Concerning an old Talk of October 3, HUMAN UNITY variation in its self-expression and 1956, to be published in the next means of development. A religion -of "Bulletin":) humanity means the growing Walking with the other people ofmy realization that there is a secret Spirit, a This is what you say: community /felt the common bond and divine Reality, on earth, that the human '"Beyond a shadow of a doubt, modem sense of unity we had. Sri Aurobindo race and the human being are the means scientific perception comes much closer writes that, "Nature will use other by which it will progressively reveal itself to expressing universal reality than, say, means such as war and conquest to the here. It implies a growing attempt to live Stone Age perceptions did. Yet even temporary domination of the powerful out this knowledge and bring about a science will suddenly find itself State ... Which will compel those kingdom of this divine Spirit upon completely surpassed and probably threatened to adopt a closer system of earth. By its growth within us oneness turned upsisf e down by the intrusion of union. It is these means and this force of with our fellow-men will become the something that DID NOT EXIST in the outward necessity... which she is using leading principle of all our life, not observed universe .... " to drive mankind towards international merely a principle of co-operation but a unification." In The Ideal of Human deeper brotherhood, a real and an inner The trouble is, Sri Aurobindo said Unity, from which this quote is taken, sense of unity and equality and a the thing was INSIDE already, he also explains how the unity of the common life. There must be the involved. He always says it's "involved" human race can be ".. .made real if the realization by the race that only on the and then evolves. religion ofhumanity, which is at present free and full life of the individual can its Yes, but "involved" simply means the highest active ideal of mankind, own perfection and permanent hapiness unmanifested. The intrusion ofthe new, spiritualizes itself and becomes the be founded. There must be too a supramental element is the intrusion of general inner law of human life." The discipline and a way of salvation in that involved, unmanifested element. following extract is a more detailed accordance with this religion, that is to description of this concept.) say, a means by which it can developed If it weren't already there, involved, it "The saving power needed is a new by each man within himself, so that it could never come out! That's obvious. psychological factor which will at once may be developed in the life of the race. make a united life necessary to ... A spiritual oneness which would Then you say: create a psychological oneness not humanity and force it to respect the This change, this abrupt principle of freedom. The religion of dependent upon any intellectual or outward uniformity and compel a transformation of the universal humanity seems to be the one growing element, will most certainly bring about force which tends in that direction; for it oneness of life not bound up with its mechanical means of unification, but a kind of chaos in the perceptions, from makes for the sense of human oneness, which a new knowledge will emerge. it has the idea of the race, and yet at the ready always to enrich its secure unity by a free inner variation and a freely That, in the most general terms, is the same time it respects the human result of the new Manifestation." individual and the natural human varied outer self-expression, this would grouping. But its present intellectual be the basis for a higher type of human It's not a question of"new things," as form seems hardly sufficient. The idea, existence. if they didn't exist before, but they were powerful in itself and in its effects, is yet Could such a realization develop unmanifested in the universe. Nothing not powerful enough to mould the rapidly in mankind, we might then solve can exist which doesn't already exist in whole life of the race in its image. For it the problem of unification in a deeper the Su_preme from all eternity. But it is has to concede too much to the egoistic and. truer way from the inner truth to new in the Manifestation. The element side of human nature, once all and still the outer forms. Until then, the attempt isn't new, but it is newly manifest, newly nine-tenths of our being, with which its to bring it about by mechanical means emerged · from the N onmanifest. larger idea is in conflict. On the other must proceed. But the higher hope of Something "new" ... what does that side, because it leans principally on the humanity lies in the growing number of mean? It makes no sense! It is new FOR reason, it turns too readily to the men who will realize this truth and seek US, in the manifestation, that's all. mechanical solution. For the rational to develop it in themselves, so that when We always talk nonsense when we idea ends always as a captive of its the mind of man is ready to escape from speak. But at any rate (laughing), some machinery, but only to substitute in the its mechanical bent, - perhaps when it nonsense is closer to the truth than end another mechanical system, finds that its mechanical solutions are other nonsense! This nonsense is closer another credo, formula and practice. all temporary and disappointing - the to the truth. truth of the Spirit may step in and lead A spiritual religion of humanity is the humanity to the path of its highest hope of the future. By this is not meant possible happiness and perfection." Mother's Agenda New York: Institute what is ordinarily called a universal for Evolutionary Research Vol.III Pg. religion, a system a thing of creed and (The Ideal of Human Unity, 358-59 intellectual belief and dogma and :Vol. 15, p. 549-552) outward rite. Mankind has tried unity by that means; it has failed and deserved When knowledge is fresh in us, then it is invincible; when to fail, because there can be no universa1 it is old, it loses its virtue. This is oecause God moves always religious system, one in mental creed forward. 3 know constantly, but all these things are not registered in my AM WITH YOU active memory, otherwise I would be flooded the physical I consciousness acts as a filter: things are recorded on a subtle (The disciple asks Mother what is meant by the reminder, "I plane and remain there in the latent state, rather like music Am With You.") that is silently recorded, and when I need to know something Undated 1957 with my physical consciousness, I plug into this subtle plane and the tape starts playing. Then I can see things, their (What is meant exactly by "I am with you." Are we really evolution apd the present result. always heard when we pray or struggle with an inner And if, for some reason or other, you write asking for my problem-in spite of our blunders .and imperfections, even help, and I answer, 'I am with you; this means that the in spite of our ill will and mistakes? And who hears? You communication with you becomes active, that you are even who are with us? Is it you in yor supreme consciousness, an in my active consciousness for some time- the time needed. impersonal divine force, the force of the yoga, or you, the And this bond between you and me is never cut. There are embodied Mother with your physical consciousness-a people who left the Ashram a long time ago, in a state of personal presence really intimate to our every thought and revolt, and yet I continue to know them and to take care of act, and not some anonymous force? Can you tell us how them. You are never abandoned. and in what way you are present with us? In truth, I feel responsible for everyone, even for people I It is said that Sri Aurobindo and you are one and the same have met for only one second in my life. consciousness, but are the personal presence of Sri Now, you know that Sri Aurobindo and I are always one Aurobindo and your own personal presence two distinct and the same consciousness. one and the same oerson. Only, things, each playing a particular role? when this unique force or presence is felt in your individual I am with you because I AM you or you are me. consciousness, it assumes different forms or appearances .. I am with you" means a world of things, for I am with depending upon your temperament, your aspirations, your you at every level, on every plane, from the supreme needs, the particular cast of your nature. Your individual consciousnessto my most physical consciousness. Here, in consciousness is like a filter, a pointer, as it were; it makes a , you cannot breathe without breathing my choice and settles upon one possibility in the infinity of consciousness. It permeates the atmosphere in the subtle divine possibilities. In truth, the Divine gives to each one physical almost materially and extends right to the lake, exactly what he expects from Him. If you believe the Divine seven miles away from here. Beyond, my consciousness can to be distant and cruel, He will be distant and cruel, because be felt in the material vital, and then on the mental and the it may be necessary for your supreme well being to feel the other higher planes everywhere. When I came here for the wrath of God. He will be Kali for the worshippers of Kali, first time, I felt Sri Aurobindo's atmosphere, felt it and bliss for the bhakta. He will be the All-Knowledge of materially, ten miles from the shore-ten nautical miles, not seekers after Knowledge, the Transcendent Impersonal of kilometers! It was very sudden, very concrete, a pure and the illusionist. He will be an atheist for the atheist, and the luminous atmosphere, light, so light that it lifts you up. love of the lover. He will be fraternal and near, an ever A long time ago, Sri Aurobindo had this reminder, with faithful friend, ever helpful, to those who feel him as the which you are all quite familiar, put up everywhere in the· inner guide of each movement, at each minute. And if you Ashram: "Always behave as if the Mother was looking at believe that He can erase everything, He will erase all your you; because ,she is, indeed, always present .., faults, all your errors, tirelessly, and at each moment you This is not some mere sentence, these are not just words, it will feel his infinite Grace. In truth, the Divine is what you is a fact. I am very concretely with you, and those with a expect of Him in your deep aspiration. subtle vision can see me. An once you enter into this consciousness where all things Generally speaking, my Force is constantly here at work, are seen with a single look, the infinite multitude of the constantly changing the psychological elements of your Divine's relationships with men, you realize how wonderful being to put them into new relationships and to make clear everything is, in every detail. You can also look at the history to you the diverse facets of your nature so that you may see of mankind and see how much the Divine has evolved what must be changed, developed or eliminated. depending upon what men have understood, desired, hoped But besides all this, there is a special personal bond of for or dreamed; how he was materialistic with the affection between you and me, between all who have turned materialist, and how each day he grows, draws nearer, towards Sri Aurobindo's teaching and me-and of course, becomes more luminous, as the human consciousness distance does not count; you may be in , at the other widens. Everyone is free to choose. The perfection of this end of the world, or in Pondicherry, but this bond remains endless variety of relationships between man and God just as real and as living. Each time there is a call, each time I throughout the history of the world is an unutterable need to know something to send out a force, an inspiration, wonder. Yet all this together is but a second in the total a protection or whatever else, a sort of message suddenly manifestation of the Divine. comes to me at any moment whatsoever, and you may have The Divine is with you according to your aspirations. This seen me more than once suddenly stop in the middle of a does not mean, naturally, that He bends to the whims of sentence or some work; it means something, some your outer nature - I am speaking here of the truth of your communication is coming, so I concentrate. being. Yet sometimes He does fashion himself according to your outer aspirations; and if, like the devout, you live There is more than a bond with those whom I have alternately in estrangement and embrace, ecstasy and accepted as disciples, those to whom I have said 'yes' - there despair, the Divine too will be estranged from you or draw is an emanation of myself. Whenever necessary, this near, according to your belief. Therefore, one's attitude is emanation notifies me as to what is happening. In fact, I 4 extremely important, even one's outer attitude. People do One can argue that Auroville International had to come not know just how important faith is, how faith is miracle - into being whenever the time was right and the conditions the creator of miracles. For if at each moment, you expect ot appropriate. Nonetheless, we must recognize the significant be uplifted and drawn towards the Divine, He will come and fact that it was the European centers who were responsible uplift you, and He will be there, very near, nearer and for both the inspiration and the effort which made A VI nearer. possible. Mother's Agenda (Paris: /nstitut de Recherches Evolutives, Four conferences of Auroville centers were held in 1979 1:116 - 119 Undated 1957 Europe between November 1981 and June 1983. Three AUROVILLE INTERNATIONAL points emerged during the discussions which gave a special impetus to the formation of Auroville International: I) A Introduction need was felt "to materialize a more collective consciousness among the groups in Europe." People were becoming better "And I see clearly that trying to formulate it would spoil acquainted with one another, and those who attended the everything. You can't formulate a curve until you come to meetings viewed them as a means "to take a concrete step the end of it - otherwise, you spoil its course". The Mother forward." 2) Auroville should soon achieve a new legal (19/ 12/62) status, and with it will come new possibilities for planning Auroville International is a new creation - just beginning ~nd development. It was pointed out that, in order to meet its dual career as both a servitor and an expression of the challenges of this next phase, an international Auroville. Its road to maturity is long and depends very organization would have greater capabilities for much upon future developments in the world, in and fundraising, liaison and representation than the individual in Auroville. One hesitates to bring its form and purpose centers acting alone. 3.) It was brought to attention of those into too sharp a definition too soon for fear of falsifying its at the conferences that some groups in Europe exploit the mission or hardening and limiting its potential. name and reputation of Auroville for their own benefit - even though they have no relationship with Auroville. The The structure of Auroville International, as reflected in its ideas and practices of these groups may be antithetical, even Statute, has been approved by the various centers and by repugnant to the values of Auroville. The creation of Auroville. The Statute was registered August 15, 1983 in Auroville International should help to make a clear The Netherlands. But this is only a first step. Everything distinction between those groups who are working in about Auroville International is yet to be done - yet to be cooperation with Auroville and those who are not. discovered. Eventually, AVI will achieve many goals and serve many One thing can be said definitely: Whatever its future, purposes. The conclusion which came out of the conferences Auroville International - like all other aspects of Auroville - will most certainly evolve beyond our initial understandings was that it should begin working soon - the time was right. and expectations of it. The final conference which preceded the registration of History and Purpose AVI was held in Laubach, W. Germany, June 25-26. There The formation of Auroville International was inevitable. was a large participation, including representatives from the It was inherent in the seed which The Mother planted "in U.S. and Auroville. This turned out to be the inauguration 1968. of Auroville International and is considered as the first meeting of the International Council. "I'm speaking of the collaboration of countries to create something. It's not when Auroville is finished: it's the Prior to its registration, the Statute was discussed at collaboration of countries to create something-but to create length in Auroville. Many suggestions were made - all of something which is based on Truth instead of rivalry in the which were incorporated in the final draft. creation of Falsehood. It's not when Auroville is ready - The Organization when Auroville is ready, it will be one city among all cities, and it's not its own capacity for truth which will have power, The organization of Auroville International consists of but that... that remains to be seen." The Mother (21 / 9 / 66) the International Council. the Advisory Counci_l, the International Executive Committee, and the International If Auroville is essentially the collaboration of the world to Secretariat. create something True, then it is inevitable that there must 1.) The International Council is made up of all the be an organized means by which the world and Auro~lle members of A VI. There are both voting and non-voting can be in relation. This, in brief, is the role of Aurovdle members. The voting members are Auroville and the A VI International. centers. The non-voting members are affiliated groups and The basis of A VI has existed since tha founding of the individuals. Auroville centers in the various countries. Until recently, The present voting members are Auroville and the however, each of these centers has operated more or less Auroville International centers in France, U.K., Sweden, independently of the others. In the last few years, a serious The Netherlands, W. Germany, Quebec, Switzerland and threat has been posed to the future of Auroville. In response, U.S.A. the European centers drew closer together in order to The non-voting group members are the centers of the demonstrate - to the world and to India - their solidarity for Institute of Evolutionary Research in Paris, New York, Auroville. It was out of this solidarity that Auroville Rome and Quebec as well as the Stichting Aurofonds in The International eventually emerged. Netherlands. 5 The non-voting individuals are Neyde Soui.a Marques The Auroville Association of Aptos, California (which Santos and Milenna Marques Santos of Brazil. has both State and Federal tax exempt status) has changed Each A VI center is responsible for representing all AVI its name to Auroville International - U.S.A. and has activities in its respective country. Each country is amended its bylaws to extend its membership to 15-20 non­ considered as a unit and has only one vote in the voting members in addition to its seven board members. International Council. Auroville has three votes. All decisions affecting policies and activities of A VI are New board members have been elected for 1983-1984. made on the authority of the International Council. They are June Maher (president), Constance (vice president The second meeting of the International Council will be and acting treasurer), Joyce Strom, Don Cox, Ardis held in Ravlunda, Sweden on the 23 and 24 of June, 1984. Hanson, Roy Chvat and Julian Lines. 2.) The Advisory Council is the same as it is defined in the Three factors influenced the transformation of the Auroville Trust Document, i.e. it is comprised of all the Auroville Association into Auroville International - U.S.A.: members of Auroville. This body may advise the I.) it guaranteed a continuity in the relationship with Auroville and the Auroville centers abroad, 2.) the International Council or the International Executive Committee either on its own initiative or upon request from Association has an established capability for receiving tax­ the Secretary General. Its decisions are always binding. exempt funds and transferring them to Auroville, 3.) the Association can act as an .. umbrella" organii.ation, 3.) The International Executive Committee consists of extending legality to its representatives, wherever they may one Aurovillian and eight other members appointed by the be located in the U.S. International Council. The International Executive Committee is the directive Naturally, Auroville International - U.S.A. will authority in the interim between meetings of the eventually become a very different organii.ation than the old International Council. It is responsible for the Auroville Association. The scope for work and implementation of the decisions of the Council participation will increase considerably. It would even be The International Executive Committee may also possible to centralize its functions elsewhere in the U.S., represent A VI in legal and financial matters. although its Seat would remain in the State where it was registered. 4.) The International Secretariat coµducts the day to day affairs of A VI. Its chief administrator is the Secretary It will be necessary soon to choose the 15-20 new General, who is appointed by the International Executive members. Ideally, they should be situated throughout the Committee. As yet, a Secretary General has not been U.S., so that person-to-person representation can be readily selected. available where it is needed. The work required of the Secretariat is primarily To enable Auroville International - U.S.A. to begin communication and coordination, and, in one sense, each functioning at its new level of purpose, we are seeking an center functions as a Secretariat in its own country. At the Endowment Fund of$150,000. Return on the investment of same time, Auroville is improving its own lines of this Fund would provide a basic support necessary for the communication with the centers and with other outside work. contacts. The International Secretariat will be established as the need arises. It remains to be seen just what form it will In light of conditions in Auroville, in the United States take and where it will be centralized. and in the rest of the world, it is hoped that Auroville International - U.S.A. will attain its final workable form in The structure of Auroville International is flexible and the not-too-distant future. The goodwill and collaboration can be responsive to a great variety of situations It is of everyone who aspires "to create something which is based expected, for instance, that the organii.ation and character on Truth" is welcome. of member centers will differ considerably from country to country. For further information write to: Constance, Auroville International - U.S.A., 212 Farley Drive, Aptos, CA 95003 The purpose of this organii.ation is not to create an Auroville "institution", which would make some people "insiders" and some people "outsiders". The effort which has been undertaken by Auroville International is to create and maintain a network of communication between all groups and individuals who are working for Auroville. We are all one community, and AVI is an indispensable tool for the work of this community. It provides official representation of Auroville when it is required - for contact with government agencies, international organii.ations and foundations. It facilitates the channeling of furids to A,uroville, and, through Auroville International, our work becomes a global experience and a global collaboration. Auroville International - U.S.A. The first steps have been taken to lay a foundation for AVI- U.S.A. Constance Walker and Bill Sullivan in Santa Cruz, CA. 6 AN UNEXPECTED Cambridge, and holoer of a research governed by a hierarchy of DEPARTURE* fellowship of the Royal Society, has morphogenic fields that are not caused a furor with his "hypothesis of inherited chemically but given directly by David Wickenden causative formation." The theory by morphic resonance from past postulates the existence of a new, organisms of the same species." *This exercise is divided in two parts. The immaterial force of nature that does not second part, to come next issue, deals with Sheldrake elaborates on t]lis the practical applications of the principles involve matter or energy and that distinction with the analogy of a discussed here. collides head-on with the mechanistic television set: "Imagine an intelligent belief that everything can be reduced to and curious person who knows nothing physics and chemistry. about electricity or electromagnetic Morphic Resonance radiation. He is shown a television set There will be new unexpected for the first time. He might at first departures of science or at least of According to Sheldrake's theory, first suppose that the set actually contained research ... Discoveries will be made that put forward in 1981, the universe is little people, whose images he saw on thin the walls between soul and matter; governed not so much by immutable the screen. But when he looked inside attempts there will be to extend physical laws as by habits - patterns and found only wires, condensers, knowledge into the psychological and created by the repetition of events or transistors, etc., he might adopt the psychic realms with a realization of the "attitudes" over time. Whenever an more sophisticated hypothesis that the truth that these have laws of their own atom, molecule, organ or other images somehow arose from· which are other than physical, but not "morphic unit" first comes into being, complicated interactions among the the less laws because they escape the says the scientist, it generates a components of the set. This hypothesis external senses and are infinitely plastic morphogenic, or M-field (morpheform; would seem particularly plausible when and subtle. genesis-coming into being). This field he found that the images became Sri Aurobindo becomes a kind of blueprint that defines distorted or disappeared when The Human Cycle (1917) and regulates subsequent units of the components were removed. same type. Subsequent units tune into "If the suggestion were put to him Who is Rupert Sheldrake, and why or resonate with, and then repeat, the that the images in fact depended upon are people saying such things about previously created "archetype" which invisible influences entering the set from him? operates across space and time. far away, he might reject it on the Here is Marilyn Ferguson's A simple example of this process grounds that it was unnecessary and Brain/ Mind Bulletin hailing the British obscurantist. His opinion that nothing scientist for producing a scientific would be the forming of the first hydrogen atom. Through its bonding Hindi films. There are many Station. If you want something better, yet still Indian, we good novels about India. R.K.. Narayanan's books will give recommend Dasprakash Hotel on Poonamallee High Road you the flavor of a South Indian town. E.M. Forester's or the New Woodlands Hotel on Cathedral Road. From "Passage to India" is a classic. Paul Scott's "The Raj Madras to Pondy there is a night train leaving from Egmore Quartet" will tell you how the British made the transition. station. It is very slow, and you must change' trains in Books by V.S. Naipaul will show you the darker aspects of Villupuram at about 3:30 a.m. The best way to go is the India. "Midnight's Children" by Salmon Rushdie is a express buses that leave from "Parry's Comer". There are recently published, widely acclaimed saga of modem India. both "State" and private buses (Progress Transport is a Rushdie's use of Indian English might be particularly name we remember) which usually require advance ticket illuminating for the traveler. purchases. You can also go to Parry's a~ take the firs!_ Now to the practical information. You will need an limited express bus heading toward Tindivanam, about American passport. You will need a tourist visa from your thirty kilometers from Pondy. Once in Tindivanam there are nearest Indian consulate or embassy. Tourist visas can be many local buses. There is also an "ashram taxi" from changed to residence visas in Auroville. It can be difficult Madras. You can find out about it from the Sri Aurobindo and time-consuming to obtain a residence visa for India in Ashram. the U.S.A. You will need evidence of injections against typhoid, If you are going to Auroville and want information on yellow fever and other diseases. The Indian consulate will guest houses, work arrangements, etc., write to "The tell you which shots are required. If you are worried about Auroville Cooperative", P.O. K.ottakuppam, 605104, Tamil drinking the water use iodine drops. The taste is terrible, but Nadu, India and ask for"A Guide for Guests". You can also Iodine seems to work best. Most city water in India is now write to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, India for heavily chlorinated. information on staying there. In general take less than you think you'll need. A sleeping You will have to shop around for airplane tickets if you pad for those hard, second class berths on the train, comes in want to save money. Find a grapevine and ask people. Call handy (Margo Macleod recommends the self-inflating ones as many travel agents as you can stand. The cheapest ticket for true comfort) as does a sleeping bag and walking shoes that we have heard of as of September, 1983 is about $1100. for higher altitudes. For those who use them, a good supply round trip from the U.S.* If you leave from the East Coast of razor blades and tampax would be worth the investment. you could go to London. London travel agents have the best Cameras and tape recorders will be noied in your passpo .rt at prices to almost anywhere, but it will take time to find them. customs as you enter India. You will be required to take Bangkok is another city where you may be able to get a good them out when and if you leave. Ifyou do not have them you deal. Finding a good ticket to India is still a part of the great will need a police certificate proving that they were stolen. adventure that you must investigate yourself. If you want to go this winter(NovemberthroughJanuary COLLABORATION would appreciate hearing of your offers the coolest weather) and are looking for companions, luck so that we can pass it along to our readers. here are the names of some people we know who are making If you are in a rush, book your ticket straight to Madras, the journey:

•Information courtesy of Metropolitan Travel Service, 301 Ellis Suzanne McDonald Street at Taylor, San Francisco, CA 94102, an agency those on the (see interview in this issue) west coast might investigate. Marion Nelson Willow Gold Rt. 3 Spring Green, Wis. 53588 Seyril Schlochen 301 Hawthorne Boulder, Colo. 80302 We hope that this article helps provide a basis for a trip to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville. Any comments, corrections, and additional information can be sent to COLLABORATION. If there is enough we can make a travel update a regular feature of the magazine.

The Road He strides through a blizzard down the middle of the empty street. His jacket is open to the cold, his feet make holes in the snow. He is alone. Wavering slightly from wind or drink he passes out of sight. The snow sweeps in behind him, filling his holes and covering the road. It will not stop tonight. This street is silent, this world is white. In Chidambarum, sun-baked dust covers the street that leads to the temple, and bare cracked feet stride toward the shade of their lord-; thousands of feet, wearing down the road, weary and hot, longing for the touch of ancient stones upon their soles as they sink into the burning street, and the road behind whitens in the sun, City Street in Conjeevarum, Tamil Nad1u and the street behind whitens in the snow. Photo by Gordon Korstange

Village Street in Photo by Gordon Korstange 12 THE LEARNING EXCHANGE like that but we do have a structured program with a beginning and an end that allows ua to have specific The following interview with Suzanne MacDonald who goals and to evaluate the program. The basic idea is the D~orof ~e Learning Exchange, is presented to our behind the school is to study social organisms like ~e~ ID order Jo ~troduce t~em to an educational project organizational groups, communities, and businesses which IS a new link ID the chain of communication between in order to help people understand the nature of Auroville and America. Although this project has sent only or~nization_s and communities as living beings, two groups of students from America to Auroville, one in social orgarusms. 1981-82 and another in 1982-83, it has been successful both as !! learning experience for the students and as a means of G: Was that first trip successful? bringing new energy, idea and resources into Auroville. For S: Oh, incredibly! It was my first trip and, personally, it individuals who want to live in Auroville for a period of was a tremendous success! Also for Auroville, their three months and have the opportunity to participate in the first response was one of appreciation for the new community's life, this program is an excellent way to do so. ideas, new blood, new energy coming into their It offers highly motivated individuals a strong basic community. They liked having it. And I went from structure for exploring the "riches" of Auroville. being totally ignorant of what Auroville was to being There's another side ofthis project. Merriam Hill C.enter's the coordinator for this exchanB. Learnin~ Exchange . Program occasionally gives G: How was that first trip organized? Who went on it? scholarships to commuruty members for exchanges to either S: Jt was orchestrated by Peter Calloway, founder and Findhom or Arcosanti. Agnes Gastmans of Auroville director of _Mef!iam Hill C.enter, and Michel Henry, received this scholarship and took part in the Exchange who now hves 10 Colorado. The idea for this first program at Arcosanti this past summer. Another pilot group to go as students to Auroville came out of scholarship fund has also been started here in the U.S. for Michel's realization that the education her children financial help and support of Auroville students who come were getting just wasn't enough. It wasn't building a to this country for studies. June Maher in California is whole person. When she visited Auroville in 1980 overseeing this fund that so far has helped to support Taddy with Peter Callaway they explored the idea of Neogy, who studied guitar-making in Santa Cruz, bringing a group of American students there for the California. specific purpose of enlarging their perspective If any of our readers would like to make a personal through an educational experience. contact with the Learning Exchange, they can write to: After they returned, Michel took on this task of organizing a student exchange from Merriam Hill to. Merriam Hill C.enter Auroville. The first group was made up of Michel's 129 Raymond Street daughter, Betsy, her son, John, a friend ofhers, Betsy Cambridge, MA 02140 ·Field, who was on an internship as a student at Interview by: Tom O'Brien, Jean and Gordon Kontan• Merriam Hill, Wendy Walsh, a Dartmouth College Master's candidate, working on a degree in Land St~ardship, _and myself. Wendy and I came by ): Would you begin by introducing yourself and accident. We Just happened to hear about this lady describing what the Merriam Hill C.enter and the and went and talked to her. Leaming Exchange are? S: (Laughing) Accident! Whatever! S: My name is Suzanne MacDonald and I work as the G: Sounds like a family trip. Director of the Learning Exchange program at S: In a lot of ways it was like that. We were a variety of Merriam Hill Center. I first became associated with a~, I 5 to 42 years. Essentially, we were quite a the program as a participant in the first Learning diverse group. At the end of our three month stay in Exchange (LEX) to Auroville in 1981-82, when I ~uroville we thought that the exchange was a good went with a group of five others to Auroville on a idea. It had worked for us and people in Auroville pilot program to experience what it would be like to were happy with the energy which had come into the live in Auroville and see if the community was community. So the exchange continued for round interested in having an educational exchange two. program. That second group went to AUfoville for three For the past three yean' I have lived on a cooperative months last year in December. Once again there were far:m in Plainfield, New Hampshire, raising sheep, five students. One person who went with this group chickens, and most of our own food. was from Arcosanti. What we try to do is to take a Over the years Merriam Hill Center has developed a community memher from each of the three learning relationship with three outstanding communities we work with so that they can learn communities creating exchanges of ideas and more about each otl!er. individuals. These communities are Auroville in J: I remember that kind of exchange between the three India, Findhorn• in Scotland, and Arcosanti in communities happening when I was in Auroville in C.entral Arizona. the late '70's. There was a program known as Hexiad LEX is only one component of the Merriam Hill and people from Arcosanti, Findhorn, and Auroville Center which is an ever evolving and changing center got together and visited the three communities as a for education. group. Paolo Soleri came one winter and Eileen We are a privately funded school although a very Caddy of Findhorn visited this past winter. There unusual school You don't get a degree or anything was also an exchange of videotapes among the three 13 communities. This has been an. ongoing means of not to just be in Auroville but to do something communication and sharing since that time. specific, to learn about things wluch they arc doing S: Yes, we work with the three communities so that they here in the U.S. can learn about each other. In this case Arcosanti S: LEX bas always pushed for people to have some kind could share in the experience of Auroville. It gives of focus in their energy. We're not a tour guide taking pc-0ple a broader understanding because they have a tours to Auroville. We're not taking people to India personal experience of the community they are so that they can go out and see the Taj Mahal. visiting rather than sending over a tape or telling Merriam Hill's educational focus is to study how their experience through publications. When you go communities work. We try to discern what the actual and live in a community for a period of time, you are energetics are that keep people in any organization or much more in tune with each other. community working together. So this second group of students consisted of Dave So people who go with LEX to Auroville are asked to Tollas from Arcosanti, Christin Torrison from focus their energy in an area which they find to be of Colorado, Debbie Rein from New Hampshire, Sue personal interest. If people go io an unfocused way Brent from New Bedford, New York, and Sarah they tend to stay unfocused because there is so much Thome from New Hampshire. Of the group Dave in Auroville. It is so wide and such an expansive and Christin were the most familiar with Auroville. place. There arc things going on spiritually, Dave knew of it through the exchange and Christin physically, and emotionally. It is important for had heard a lot about it through Michel Henry who is people to have a basic fr-Jme of reference in order to a good friend of her mother. Christin is the one who keep their perspective on everything which is organized a sand castle building contest for the happening to them. It is very important for people to Mother's and Auroville's binhdays. have a basic idea of what theywanttodoand look at. G: Where did they build sand castles'/ Debbie and Sarah are two examples of what can S: Down on the beach. She organi1,ed this event on the happen when you go in with a specific focus. Auroville beach in response to people asking us as a Debbie's thing was really wanting to work with kids group how were going to get involved in the birthday and education. She spent her six weeks doing that. week. That's from the 21st to the 28th of February. She did a beautiful job with the children in Auroville at the Center Nursery School by really getting down So she dreamed this event up. It was a nice way of getting involved. She always kept feeling that and being with them and working with them. Sarah Auroville needed some fire, fun, outrage. So, she really wanted to learn about forestry in a third world said, I'm going to get them laughing and having a country. There are many people in Auroville who good time being creative. And she did it! know a Jot about that and they provided her with the There was a lot of wonder in AuroviUe about this opportunity to actually experience how and what woman. An Aurovilian onoe described her as "that one can do in a country like India. woman who can ride her bike back'n forth from When I first went to Auroville I knew nothing about it. I went in there never having heard of the place Aspiration to Certitude before l'm halfway to Certitude!" So there was always this kind of energy before. I hadn't even heard of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. I just wasn't on that path. I was on some around Christin. People wondered what she was up path but it didn't look like I had a name for it. There to and what her true path was. At the same time they felt that her spirit was so much there for Auroville. are a lot of people like me who don't really know about the spiritual aspect of Auroville and I think Debbie Rein, who was a graduate of Dartmouth and has been involved in the Hunger Project here in the that exchange can give them the opportunity to go in there not knowing that path and come out searching States, found the exchange to be a real eye opener. more for the spiritual aspec.t of their life. They come Actually seeing what hunger is all about in a country oul with a very different perspective on what their like India deeply affected her. She was very quiet about it while she was in Auroville but when she got purpose is. back to the States she totally immersed herself in the J : Yes, I was impressed with that fact that when I met problem and is now working full time for the Hunger the members of this last group they aU expressed Project. their awareness of having had a very unique Sarah Thorne, who is doing an MA in System.$ experience there. They felt a sense of fulfillment and Dynamics, which is oriented towards reforestation an awareness that they were changed through it. or wood energy, spent her time in Auroville learning They really had a very solid grasp on what had how people can actually work together to effect a happened to them in Auroville. change in the land and environment. She's now S: Most people found that our program gave them a organizing land trusts for the Society for the feeling of purpose. They were not your typical tourist Protection of New Hampshire. Forests. who goes out to take a look at something else and Sue Brent is now a student atS.U.N.Y. in New York, then come back home and be their old selves again. 1 leaning towards Social Sciences and the Arts. While think LEX offers people a chance to experience a she was in AuroviUe she established a deep different place and culture in order to learn and grow relationship with the CO!"ffiunity me~bers in in an educational sense. Kottakarai and worked with Meenak.sh, on the J: So people get another perspective on themselves. English translation of Meenakshi's Tamil _poems. There's a Jot of self-growth in three months. f:· ft•~ int... nooc:tino ~nlU" th~ Ol":.nnle are now 2oin2 ~ - Nnt in~• ~lf-O'f"l"lwth. P,:on1c don't 20 in there savin2 ,i's just for me and my self-perspective. They are a together and catch up on their physical, emotional, part of a group and they go as a group to understand and mental states, within our original group context. each other intermingled in all that Auroville offers We found out what was happening with each other them. They have their own experience within the and people shared their experiences with the whole dynamics of a small group which requires them to group. It was like a spider's web that sort of spun rise above that selfness sometimes. They attempt to out-whoosh-all over Auroville. Then we pulled it understand the experience from the group back together and benefitted from each other's perspective also. It's very much like what an experiences. We got to know what was happening in individual living in a community has to do when they 'Jther places in Auroville also. Participants were have to rise above their own wanting; wanting their involved in tree nursery work, the school, the incense own things in their own house and having to think of factory, cooking and work on . The how that affects the whole community of Auroville meeting provided a forum for sharing. or Fitchburg, Mass. Lots of Aurovilians offered to do things for LEX. G: What happens when the students arrive in Auroville? Aster Patel, a woman that was brought up in the Do they go to a specific community? Ashram, offered to give a weekly session on Sri S: First of all, we have a one-week intensive workshop Aurobindo and The Mother. Everyone came to this at Coolidge House which is the office, study center weekly session with only the little background and living quarters for The Merriam Hill Center. In information which I had given them during order for us to prepare a group for India we spend orientation week. They received a much more in­ this week teaching people a unique language that depth perspective of what these two people we1;! all helps them understand the nature of gro1J . We about. After six weeks of meeting every Wednesday don't just sit around and talk about these things. We afternoon, people left with a deeper understanding of use theater and movement to elicit ideas which help the Yoga. us to get a perspective on ourselves as individuals and Meenakshi, who lives at Elangarkal, agreed to teach as a group. There are slide shows and_ basic us about the Tamil culture. We went to Elangarkal informative sessions also. We're an unusual school in every week and did everything from learning about that our approach is experiential and creative. We the local politics, to the preparation of local foods, to don't offer a degree or anything like that but our past the proper technique for draping saries with her. students have obtained credit from their home We took field trips which were just fantastic. The institutions for their participation in our project. idea was to go out of Auroville with Aurovilians and G: You could offer a B.A. others who knew the area and see some other parts of S: (Laughing) Yeah! I need something new for the India. We went to a wildlife sanctuary called Auroville orientation week. Anyway, after that, we Mudanthuri. We were there for ten days. After go to Boston and fly directly from there to Auroville. having been iR Auroville for a month and a half it was It's very intense. It's not like being a traveller where amazing to go to a place where there were trees and you sort of take your time to get there. When we fresh water that you could drink and swim in. We just arrive people need time to get their feet back on the cooled out for ten days swimming and relaxing and ground. They have to adjust to the climate change in such an outrageously beautiful place. The and orient themselves in their new environment. experience for the Aurovilians who accompanied us Last year we worked out an arrangement so that the proved to be equally fantastic and unique. physical necessities which people need in order to live G; You visited temples also, didn't you? in Auroville for three months were ready and waiting S: Yes. The Meenakshi Temple in Maduri was a part of for us when we got there. Joan Tomb, a long term the trip to Mudanthuri. Prior to that we went out on resident of Auroville, agreed to act as a liaison this wild bus which Auroville had just gotten from between Auroville and LEX. She provided a place Germany with Meenakski and all the Tamil people which was all set up when we got there. A place where who live in Elangarkal and work in the nursery. We we could feel a little bit at home upon our arrival. went in the bus singing at the top of our lungs the People need a transition place where they can songs which the Tamils taught us. It was completely unwind and relax before integrating themselves into their trip; we were just along for the ride. They were a new community. Joan did an excellent job of so pleased to share their life, what it's like to live in providing this kind of place. the village, and a big picnic lunch which we had taken People stayed there for about seven or eight days. along. The culminating point was the tour of the During that time we toured Auroville. We wanted Temple and the Ramana Maharshi Ashram which is people to get a. perspective on what was out there, located in this typical Tamil village-town. where things were located. So we arranged for a one­ As you can see from this, the program in Auroville is day van tour and a one-day walking tour during that a very loosely coordinated one. It is not structured in first week. Through that tour they all found places the sense that you have to be here or there for this or where people said, ok, we have an opening and we'd that class. Every minute of your working day is not like you to stay here. Thus everyone went out and filled with activities. There's a framework which you lived in a place of his or her own choosing after eight have to rely on and it serves to keep you focused and or ten days. integrated into the community. One of the things we did on a weekly basis was hold G: Did you visit the Ashram as a part of the program? group meetings so that everyone could get back S2 We went to Samadhi several times with a number of 15 different people. We didn't take a group tour of the people who have gone in the past knew something Ashram because tours are available through it and about Auroville through having met someone who people could do that on their own. Our students are had visited the community or lived there. very much self-motivated and develop relationships J : Do you make a personal contact with people w~,o apply to with what is of interest to them. They are given plenty go as students on the exchange? . of time to do that on their own. S: Yes, I have a personal interview with the applicant and if they live so far away that I can't do that, I try w get some J: What do you have planned for your coming kind of information or ·reference from others who ,:an tell me exchange program this winter'l something about that person. We're an ecllucational S: The program begins on January 2nd with a week institution so we look for people who are self-motiivated and long workshop at Coolidge House. This orientation mature. week is entitled Elements of Community and the There's the other side of this exchange which we shouldn't focus is on getting to know each other within our forget about. This summer LEX brought Agnes 1Gastmans group and getting a sense of what the program is all from Auroville to America to spend the sttmmer in about. We introduce students to the community of Arcosanti. She had the chance to see what it was like to be Auroville and life in India. part ofan Exchange group. She made a lot offriends and felt We will leave from Boston on January 9. Our arrival some sense of community. She had th_e oppo:rtunity to in Auroville will be on January 11th. We spend 12 experience becoming a part of another new community in weeks in Auroville. The return trip is scheduled for another country in order to share in their life and April 1st. The program ends on April 6th with the experience. one week stay at Coolidge House where the group G: At our meeting at Willow Gold this summer we discussed assess their experience and takes time to reintegrate the possibilities of hosting people who want to come from themselves into their home environment. Auroville to the States for some time. Global Vie'W / Willow A lot of people think-this week is silly at first. They Gold is one place where people could be involved in a just want to get home after being away for three community and work while they are here. months. But everyone leaves it being glad that they s • There are many possibilities for enlarging this project. It's to did it because it gives them a chance to sort things out the point where we <:an all be involved. There are many before they have to tell everybody what they did in people here in the States who have lived in the communities Auroville. It also gives us the chance to understand which LEX works with and who could add to wltlat we are how the program went. What we need to do next now doing. I have seen this program grow a little ,every year time. It's a general period of evaluation and and it's very exciting to be a part of that growth. assimiliation. The C()$t of the program is $3,000. This includes staying at Coolidge House, transporation, living expenses while staying in Auroville, and any group excursions or activities. T: , Do you see more people getting involved or is it better to keep it small? . S: It has to stay small because of the group ~ynam1cs and structure of Auroville. Auroville would find it difficult to absorb a large group of people. It would be difficult to house JS people or to move around together as a group. There could be a lot of variations on what we are doing. I think LEX opened the door in terms of an educational program coming into Auroville from the outside. We were the guinea pig that went into the ~ommunity and now that they feel good about the exhange of energies, my hope is that they will take on -some of the work of expanding this program. There's room for everyone to make a contribution. J: Where can people who are interested in this year's exchange to Auroville write for information and an application? S: If they want to apply for Leaming Exchange Programs they should write to Suzanne MacDonald, 129 Raymond St., Cambridge, MA 02140. They should write and state their interes!· I will 5e:nd them an application form and general informatton­ about the program. We've made a little booklet called"A Partial Survial Guide to Auroville." It gives the basic information about life in Auroville for people who have never been there. I also send articles or copies of the Auroville Review so that they can read about the community for themselves. Most The Merriam Hill Center. Photo by Suzanne McDOllaald 16 Undated 1957 BETWEEN TWO WORLDS For some time people waited in their places. Then they formed a moving Dick Batstone queue which circled through Sri THE MOTHER'S In this installment from Dick's diary, Aurobindo's room and then back SUTRAS which he kept from 1959-60, there is a through Mother's HalJ and down the vivid account ofa meditation which was stairs. At the bottom many people were 1) Be ambitious fornothing, above all standing, silent and attentive, as if they lead by the Mother to commemorate pretend nothing, but be at each instant hoped to see Mother come down, but the passing of Sri Aurobindo and a the utmost of what you can be. short anecdote and poem which he she was gone. 2) As for your place in the universal wrote sometime after the meditation. This half hour of intense manifestation, only the Supreme can concentration by Mother was assign it to you. unforgettable, though what effect it had 3) It is the Supreme Lord who has ineluctably decreed the place you 5 Dcc:cmber 1960: After breakfast on me, beyond a slight headache, I don't know. But that is the wrong question! occupy in the universal concert, but everybody in the Ashram assembled for whatever be this place, you have equalJy a special meditation to commemorate 6 December 1960: Recently I was the same right as all others to ascend the the passing of Sri Aurobindo. Mother talking to K. whom I'd met in the supreme summits right to the sat upstairs in the large room where she Playground. He asked me ifthere would supramental realization. interviews people, and the sadhaks sat be a meditation there that evening. 4) What you are in the truth of your round her on the floor and in Sri "No, I told him. There arc only two a being is decreed in an irrevocable way, Aurobindo's room and in the small week, on Thursdays and Sundays." and nothing nor anyone can stop you connecting room between. Others sat "And then Mother comes, yesr• he from being it; but the path you take to on the stairs down to the Meditation queried . get there is left to your own free choice. Hall, which was also full, and so on, .. No, she never comes, now, since she 5) On the road of the ascending right into the main courtyard, around had gone into seclusion", I told him. evolution, every one is free to choose the the Samadhi and on the verandahs and .. But she is surely there, in the direction he will take: the swift and steps of the buildings that enclose it. background, in the little room where the steep climb towards the summits of Everyone had been told in advance photographs arc?" Truth, to the supreme realization, or where to sit, and by 9:45 a.m. they were Again I said no. She never came to the turning his back to the peaks, the easy all in their places. playground for meditation now, ever. descent to the interminable N. had explained to me that during .. Well then I have seen a vision," he meanderings of endless incarnations. the half hour of meditation, Mother exclaimed, "because last night when 6) In the course of time and even in would gather each person present, one 'there was meditation, and I was sitting the course of your present, you can here, I looked up and saw her in that by one, into her consciousness a~~ th~n make your choice once and for all, room. But I never guessed it was a raise herself and them to the D1vme 10 irrevocably, and then you have only to an act of offering and surrender. During vision. She must have been there for confirm it with every new occasion; or this time, he said, the Divine became quite a quarter of an hour, and during else if you do not take a definite decision very close to all those so gathered. that time I noticed her whenever I from the beginning, you will have to locked into the doorway of the room. choose anew at each moment between At 9:35, I went upstairs, with many That is strange." the falsehood and the truth. others, and found a place on the floor 7) But even in the event you have not where we could sit. I could not see The Mad Sanyasin made the irrevocable decision at the Mother, but it was not too crowded a outset, should you have the good position. fortune to live during one of these unimaginable hours ofuniversal history The stillness and heaviness of the Do not speak to me of richness or poorness, when the Grace is present, embodied atmosphere was intense. No one moved Of how to wear my rags or of what to eat. upon earth. It will offer you, at certain or coughed or made any sound. At Do not ask me where I shall sleep, times all thought seemed to be silenced, For I live in the house of timelessness. exceptional moments, the renewed possibility of making a final choice that drowned in Mother's presence. N. had Men count their properties and their riches, will lead you straight to the goal. advised us that it would be unnecessary But I count the sands of the sea-shore, to make any effort to establist\ a contact And the handfulls ofstones in the river-beds, with the Divine by one's self, but that it For I am in the house of timelessness. would be best to adopt a quiet attitude of surrender, physical realiz.ation and The sun and the green earth, what arc these? peace, so that the Mother could raise I sec the shining universe: like a picture. JOURNEY'S END one up herself. I speak to you - but what is speaking For one who is in the house of timelessness? The day ends lost in a stretch of even, The half hour passed quickly, in an A long road trod- and the little farther. atmosphere of extraordinary Oh it is well furnished, the world has less. Now the waste-land, now the silence; concentration. Then a bell rang, and But why do you look strangely at me? A blank, dark wall, and behind it people began to stand up, and Mother -It is so silent. Will you not tallc with me heaven. left the Hall. In the house of timelessness where I live? Sri Aurobindo Herc is a brief swmmary of the issues GENERAL -NEWS (The film was shown in New York City discussed and the: proposals made Man After Man on Nov. 13, 12:00 Noon, at the Thalia Theater, Broadway and W. 95th St.) during the meeting11: One hundred years after Charles August 14th: llie meeting opened Darwin's death, evolution is the tbcmc ofthe day. We know, or think we know, with Bhajans to Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. Bryan Walton welcomed how species have evolved and how Man Report on the meeting held at Willow everyone to Willow Gold and proposed was born. But then what comes after?... Gold that Julian Lines act as focalizer for the "Man is not the summit of the meetings. evolution," someone said at the On August 14th and 15th Americans Julian asked Bill Sullivan to bring beginning of this century of upheaval: everyone up to date on events in from all over the States gathered "Evolution continues, and Man will be Auroville since the Supreme Court surpassed." The man who tossed that together at the Willow Gold Farm in decision which has allowed the Wisconsin. The purpose of -this pebble into the pond of human habit to involve itself in was called Sri Aurobindo and he lived gathering was two-fold. One was to the organization i:,f the community. in India. The woman who was to carry discuss viable forms of organization Many of those present expressed their on not the "evolutionary thought" ofSri and communication for people in concern about the: political divisions Aurobindo but his evolutionary action, America who want to participate in the within the commun1ity of Auroville and had come to live beside him. He called Yoga and in the development of the the attitude of Aurovilians towards community of Auroville. The second her "Mother." She was born in Paris in Americans. Bill c"prcsscd the feeling 1878. Her body was buried in was to celebrate Sri Aurobindo's that the flow of g1oods and people to Pondicherry in 1973. birthday as well as birthdays and Aurovillc from America is needed and To start our journey, we went to the anniversaries of some of the members of appreciated by Aurovilians. he also Nilgiris- thc Blue Mountains in South the Willow Gold community. thought that this ex:change needed to be India- to interview a French writer, a Seventeen people, including two a two-way flow; Auroville goods and seeker who was named Satprcm by Aurovilians, Bill Sullivan and Martha people to America as weU as American Johnson, were present to participate in Mother and who was the witness of her 2oods.and people t,o Auroville. evolutionary work- for 20· years. We•. the four sessions which made up the two Julian reported on the group of days of meetings. The evening of the went to Aurovillc, which -is- not a new people in the Northeastern part of the city or a utopia but rather a laboratory 13th brought evcryol)C together for a States known as the East Coast Nexus. for evolution, a need for something c.lse. birthday party and a concert by the The group has b~n meeting at the We went as far as New Delhi to see Mrs. Northern Lights, a local group Merriam Hill Cen1ter on an informal . Our questions: Will consisting of two married couples who basis during the past year. The purpose there be anything else after the painful are folk singers and musicians. Thus the has been to get a sense ofwho they are as and senseless being that we are, or must meetings started off on a note of love a group of people in the States. Julia we simply resign ourselves to the and sharing which continued noted that there a.re not many places catastrophe and destruction of the throughout the two days. where Americans can find out about the human species? For this reason, the film begins with images of our daily life, this very inferno to which Man has reduced the earth. The present Man seems to be rapidly approaching his end. But then what comes after? ... The answer is not to be found in any book, wisdom or revelation. It is hidden, says Satprcm, · where Sri Aurobindo and Mother sought it, in the cells of our body. These are the introductory remarks to the remarkable, powerful and inspiring film Man After Man, made by the Italian filmmaker David Montcmurri in November, 1981. Opening with stark images of man's destructiveness in the 20th century, the core of the film is a lengthy interview with Satprcm as he outlines Sri Aurobindo's vision and Mother's evolutionary labor. This 90-minute film is now being shown in the United States. If you are interested in seeing it or Participants at the Willow Gold meetin& taking time out for a swh111. Left to ri&flt: Julian arranging to have it shown in your area, Lines, Bryan Walton, Bill Sullivan, Ardis Hanson, Kevin Browne, !Kevin Euars, Gordon write to Mr. Carlos Gocz, 22 Pomander Kontange holdin& AuroLeo Wahon, Jean Kontance, Stuart Jlohnson, and Martha Walk, New York, NY 10025. Johnson. Photo by Julian Lines. 18 Yoga and Auroville. It was felt by some The first day of meetings closed with The afternoon session focused on the of those present that the Leaming the decision to discuss the flow of exchange of goods between Auroville Exchange and Willow Gold/Global people and goods between America and and America. The problems of View were two new examples of Auroville and the Ashram. There was a developing and marketing Auroville organizations which are successfully short flute concert by Gordon products and selling them here was the involved with the flow of goods, Korstange after supper. main concern of this discussion. Bill information, and people between August 15th: The meeting opened informed people that Artisana Trust Auroville, the Ashram and America. with Sunil's New Year's Music and a had a group of people who were Duane and Marion Nelson and reading from Savitri. working on this problem and that Bryan Walton gave those present a brief The first topic of discussion was the people could work directly with them. explanation of the Willow Gold/ Global new brochures which were coming qut The discussion moved on to the View perspective and its work. from Auroville. Sometime was spent community in the States and how Sri Although they are not a Sri Aurobindo talking about the special interests Aurobindo and The Mother's vision or Auroville center they try to integrate people have towards a community like and consciousness could manifest here. goods, information and people from Auroville and what kind ofinformation Many people felt that what is required is Auroville or the Ashram into their is appropriate for America as that everyone recognize and support business and community. They feel that introductory material. o~hers who have a feeling of being able they are evolving and could serve as a The next discussion focused on the to serve the Divine wherever they are bridge between Auroville and America. community in America among people and in whatever work they do. There is a The afternoon meeting focused on who have lived in Auroville or the need for us to see others as a truth and Auroville International (AVI). Julian Ashram. There was a feeling that consciousness worker. We all have informed the group that the purpose of publications, informal gatherings, and something to give and receive and need Auroville International was to contact meeting people coming from Auroville · the loving support ofothe.rs. and inform people in countries all over to the States were the main links in this On that note the meeting closed. the world about the community of country where physical distance After the evening meal and birthday Auroville and to support the separates everyone. Thus a special cake there was a slide show by Bryan development and growth of the effort is needed to keep a flow of ~nd Mari~n on Hindqism as expressed community. The official date of communication going among people in m the ancient temples of India. registration for A VI was going to be the States. August J5, J983 and this would be done in Holland. Our representative to the A VI meeting in Laubach, Germany was Constance Walker from the Auroville Association in California and he would be one of the people most likely to take up the work of organizing an AVI center in the States. There was a proposal that all those present at Willow Gold who wished to be part of the A VI-USA Center write their names and addresses on a paper which would be sent to Constance as a group of people who support the formation of AVI-USA. The group then moved on to the topic of communication. Collaboration, informal newsletters and The Aurovil/e Review were all discussed as publications which serve io create a dialogue. and an exchange of information, events, ideas and experience. As a result of this discussion, Ardis Hanson and Julian agreed to organize a mailing list of people in the States who are interested Participants at the Willow Gold meeting in front of the house. Left to right: Knin in participating in the work of Sri Browne holding AuroLeo Walton, Mirra Browne, Jim Murphy, Paula Murphy, Bill Aurobindo and The Mother's Yoga and Sullivan, Fanou Walton, Ardis Hanson, Duane Nelson. Photo by Julian Lines. the development of Auroville and want to be kept up-to-date on people and events. Ardis agreed to mail out The most important thing is to be quiet, in a peaceful atmosphere so that informal newsletters from Auroville the Force can work without disturbance. ' and the States to everyone_on this new The Mother 1967 mailing list for a small subscription fee. 19 There has appeared an extraordinary natural phenomenon, something that occurs only once in a lifetime or perhaps only once in the history of a nation or in all time. It is a great walnut tree. It is a tree that would be a symbiosis of nature and man in the deepest spiritual sense. It is now at hand. The only full destiny of this noble tree is to use it in its full length and width to make the most expressive piece of furniture ever made, An Altar to Peace! Each step would be an -adventure as such a piece has never been made with this type of wood and proportions. Perhaps this is all a dream, but peace is a dream for millions upon millions of people. Peace should be borne as a genuine expression of nature and an act of beauty. There can be at least one small spot on earth dedicated to Peace in a tangible form instead of an abstract idea and the force of war. This Altar to Peace can be a positive creative force of its own, carrying its own momentum. The Altar can be made, but it will need a Photo taken at Minguren, George Nakashima's home, by Himanshu. Left_ to.right: Mira place where all people can pay homage Nakashima, Vasant Merchant, Marion Nakashima and George Nakashima. to its aspiration for peace. Thus I share with others, my dream of this Altar to Peace. George Nakashima Aurobindo's Savitri as the basis for her George Nakashima hosted a talk by f. j:: 7f---~0 ----···-, Vasant Merchant on April 17 at his optimism. She spoke at length on home, Minguren, in New Hope, Savitri representing evolving humanity Pennsylvania. About fifty people and how certain is the hope for a · ~~ attended the lecture on The Future transformed race. Destiny of Man. Vasant Merchant is a Following the talk, light refreshments professor at Northern Arizona State were served by Marion and Mira University in Flagstaff, Arizona and has Nakashima, George's wife and daughter been a devotee of Sri Aurobindo and respectively. When most of the guests · The Mother for over forty years. had left I reminded George ofhis earlier Himanshu (Tom O'Brien) wrote the offer to show me the wood workshop following report of this lecture: and showroom.He graciously fulfilled this request and.also included a tour _of We assembled in a building known as his own house. Each building had its the Museum. It houses artifacts from all own unmistakable atmosphere but all over the world. Everwhere one looked shared a sense of order and refinement. there was a reminder of beauty in form. Walking through the shop was like a . From the comfortable wooden chairs tour of the world's forests because of all designed by Nakashima, to the fresh the large slabs of wood which were flowers adorning the speaker's table, stored there. These pieces had come one was continuously charmed by from many diff~rent . j:;O\lQtries and aesthetic refinement. After a short Nakashima pointed out his favorite introduction by Nakashima, Vasant wood which is English Walnut. In his began her talk. She chose to create an work, Nakashima tries to make the inwardly tuned orientation by maximun use of the natural uniqueness beginni~g with several Sanskrit chants. of each piece of wood. Thus it was Her talk t?egan with _the issue of exciting to see these pieces of wood humanity's present world condition and which were yet to be made into how perilous it has been for the last functional art forms. seventy-five years. We were forced to Miriam Belov recently sent us a letter .look at the world situation and where from Nakashima about a vision of a we are going. Vasant maintained the new work which he wishes to take up. view that "the darkness is always The following extracts are from that - greatest before the dawn."'She chose sh· letter: _I_ Drawing by George Nakashima 20 CENTER NEWS This day of workshops is offered by the to write up his proposal for publication Congregational Church Peace-Makers and to arrange for the funds to be The East West Cultural Center in Task Force, Boulder Council of ~ived bY, Constance: Walker in Santa Los Angeles, California, announces Churches and Synagogues, Sri Cruz. Arya, who is planning to go to that the sacred relics of Sri Aurobindo Aurobindo's Action Center, The Auroville at the end of this year, also and The Mother, will be delivered to the Colorado Institute of Transpersonal shared his experience: about this with center from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Psychology and others. Seyril states the group. in Pondicherry, and installed in a that "Mother Noah is dedicated to The One project which ,everyone felt was specially prepared reliquary and Mother and to all the Mothers of the necessary to take up was that ofcreating meditation room located within the Earth, and begins with a quotation from a visitor's line. We felt that it is Center. The following is 3 short Savitri: important to know wh10 is coming to the statement by the Center in regards to States from Auroville and when As she moved across the changing earth someone comes to O\ltr area we would this event which will take place later this A deeper consciousness welled up in her; year: like to be able to meet them and share Each soil and country it has made its home; information, news, and experiences. "For this to occur at all, especially in It took all clans and peoples for her own, the West and particularly in Los Till the whole destiny ofmankind was hers. Angeles, is of · great significance as it A SIMPLE PUOPOSAL &ok Four, "The Quest", Chapt. 4 heralds the establishment of Their The Matrimandir will be the soul of physical presence in what both of Them Joe and Muriel Spanier will also A.uroville. 1he sooner the soul is there, considered as the most likely place in make a contribution to the day's the better is will be for everybody and the world for the next great advance in workshops with a talk on Auroville's especially for thii Aurovilians. man's spiritual evolution and contribution to Peace-Consciousness. The Mother I 5 / ll / H'70 unfoldment of truth - The United States They organize the Sri Aurobindo of America. Because it is fast becoming Action Center in Boulder. A casual commen1t concerning the a reflection ofthe world-at-large with its time to complete tlile Matrimander collection of diverse ethnic minorities, EAST COAST NEXUS evoked in me a wish to speed up the and because it has acquired a vitality On October 8th, 9th and 10th, ten process. The feeling ~s the same as the which is commensurate with its people gathered together at the longing for the manilfesiation of one's emerging spirituality, it is most fitting Merriam Hill Center in New individual soul and ~s accomanied by that Los Angeles will be the host Hampshire. Himanshu (Tom O'Brien) the recognition th,11.t all projects environment of Sri Aurobindo and The organized the three days of activities engineered by the mental, emotional Mother's physical presence and force. which included group meditations, and physical being are at best tenuous hiking, dance improvisation, and without the full flowc:ring of this soul. discussions concerning a focus for this Each of us has c:xperienced this Seyril Sochen, who is presently living group. individually and know that it is equally in Boulder, Colorado, reports that on At the group's final meeting it was true in the evolution of the Auroville August 15th at the blessing of the new agreed that in terms of outward action collectivity at whose center stands house of the Colorado Institute of people had enough to do to maintain Matrimandir - the sollll of a new world. Transpersonal Psychology in Boulder, themselves in America. It was felt that Amidst the numer-ous attempts to the Centenary Edition of the complete there was a greater need for silence and create a flow of morney to realize the works of Sri Aurobindo was presented. meditation. Because Merriam Hill completion of Matrimiandir I propose a A passage from Book Three of Savitri, Center offers us an environment where "grassroots" effort whose keynote is The Vision of the King heralding the w.e can come together for the purpose of consistency. Can we find in America a coming of "the sun-eyed children of a meditation and quiet we should try to 100, 200 people who will give marvelous dawn" after t}Je destruction spend one weekend every two months consistently, according to their means, ofthe old world, was read. doing this. Thus it was proposed that we $10.00, $25.00 per month towards this meet on the weekend of November effort. For example, a hundred people Seyril is giving a course at the 18th-20th for the purpose of being with · contributing SI0.00 c:very month will Institute entitled The Adventure of each other in a quiet and concentrated rea lize S 12,000 c:ach year for Conciousness. She is teaching this manner. Gordon Korstange offered to Matrimandir. The pa1rticipation of this course with another faculty member, structure the weekend and lead the core of workers in America will create Richard Freeman. The course group for the first session. a powerful bond ofsol lidarity with those description is as follows: "Meditation Arya Maloney proposed that an in Auroville who give themselves daily and transformational theatre practices effQrt be made by people in America to to the building c,f Matrimandir. will be developed for personal evolution support the building of the Furthermore, I be:lieve, that the in a rapidly changing world. The course Matrimandir in Auroville through a creation of a consiste1nt flow of money is both theoretical and experiential." monthly pledge to contribute whatever will attract other !1ources for this On November 19th, at the First they can, even if it is only $1 per month purpose. Congregational Church in downtown to the Matrimandir fund. The whole Arya Boulder a premiere presentation of her group supported his suggestion and it Anyone wishing to participate in this play Mother Noah, A Quest for the was felt that this money should be sent work can send their· pledge to: The Ark, will be given as the culminating through an organization like Auroville Auroville Association,, P.O. Box 2780, event of the All Boulder Peace Day. International-USA. Thus Arya agreed Santa Cruz, CA. 95062 Integral Knowledge Study Center: NEWS FROM AUROVILLE is then concreted. One team is busy bending spirals, and another team of Rand Hicks of the Integral Knowledge Matrimandir Update - June, 1983 carpenters builds the shuttering around Study Center in Pensacola, Florida, (Extracts from a letter by Dee for the each node. When one level is finished, a installed relics from Sri Aurobindo's Matrimander workers) call will go out to all Auroville and a big room on August 15 at the Center. They "concreting" will happen. Presently the work is going on in 5) The .spiral ramp which winds its were enthusiastically received and there about seven areas: was a feeling that America has been well double way up and down to the inner 1) On the ground, in the workshop, chamber is currently being prepared to prepared for the physical impact of Sri the precast concrete beams which will Aurobindo's presence. be clad with ferrocement. On the last form the foundation for the outer skin section now, next to the southeast of Matrimandir are being made: steel is entrance to the chamber, the wiremesh Ardis Hanson in San Francisco, cut, bent and tied into shape for reinforcement is being placed over the California, is making a computerized reinforcing pieces, shuttering boxes are steel frame. list of names, addresses, and telephone put together, concrete is poured, the 6) In the gardens, landscaping numbers of people who would like to be shuttering is taken apart and the beams continues, with a team of eight strong informed and/ or participate in groups are carted to the ponds for curing and men from the village who excavate what or events which are being organized in later pulled out for welding and will one day be a lake (with a little help the States. If you have not received a stacking. from the weather - it's hard to imagine a mailing of addresses and newsletters 2) On the structure itself, scaffolding lake during a drought year like this) and from her contact her at the following pipes are being taken down from one are nearly finishing a service road whose address: side of the structure, cleaned and entrance sports a bright steel gate repainted, and put up again on another designed by one of our artistic side. The scaffolding is necessary for Ardis Hanson Aurovillians which does optical tricks installing the beams and supporting as you cycle past. 3394 24th St. them once· in place, until the nodes are San Francisco, CA. 94110 7) In the Nursery, about 3500 concreted. In fact this is an area where seedlings of indigenous trees for the we'll soon feel the financial pinch a lot, outer gardens are being prepared. New The Willow Gold Farm in Wisconsin because we don't have enough pipes to hybrid crosses of hibiscus have been sponsored the Love Project on Oct. 7-9. continue building higher than the developed and that area of the Nursery Developed and organized by two equator. However, human energy-wise ( which will be part of the final gardens) former school teachers, Arleen this has been a very evocative project; is being pruned and carefully Lorrance and Diane Pike, The Love the pipe-scraping crew swelled to quite a landscaped The roses brought by Mme. Project is an opportunity to practice large number a few months ago when Zhivkova of Bulgaria three years ago functioning in a greater consciousness the big push was on despite the are doing well; about 25 loads of and to expand awareness and and inglorious nature of the work; during homemade compost will fertilize them understanding through the concrete school recess we've had a team of little this year. application of cooperation, loving, and kids here to clean clamps; carrying the Of course, the material progress of giving. When put into action The Love old pipes up from the crater to the Matrimandir is only that: the outer Project Principles become tools for cleaning shed was the spontaneous manifestation of an inner work of which conscious choice. For the last four years work which we all joined in to do it is probably better not to speak too Diane and Arleen have come to Willow together when the favourable judgment much. Suffice it to say, the symbol of its Gold where, in Practice Sessions, in the Supreme Court was announced in incompleteness is not lost on us ... groups have come to laugh, explore, november; and three weeks ago a new We hope that as you face the symbols change and grow. "dawn" team has formed of people from of your tapasya in your day that you all over Auroville who come at 6 a.m. to feel us with you, as we feel you with us. install scaffolding pipes on the Global View has a limited quantity of northeast quarter. the 1984 Auroville Calendar. This Greenbelt coming year's will be a small 6½ by 9½ 3) During the normal working hours (Extracts from the Auroville Review of the morning, the "beam team.,., of 6 to desk calendar with the architect­ No.9 Sept., 1983) ural drawing of the Matrimandir and 12 persons works on bringing the half­ Auroville had a few days of heavy the Urn. It is printed in gold on blue ton beams down the slope from the curing ponil to the bottom level of rains in August and the greenworkers handmade paper. Matrimandir, and then hoisting them are busy digging and planting again. They have also printed a special They are presently occupied with a large Christmas catalogue. It offers quality with the big yellow crane, perched like a bird at the very top of the globe, into scale project funded by the Government handmade products from the Ashram, of India to plant selected species of trees Auroville, Findhorn, Thailand and place along the southwest side. There's a certain amount of happy anticipation as in various environments and monitor India. we approach "the equator"; only three their growth for a period of five years. Both of these are available upon levels, i.e. 250 beams more to go. A group of people working directly request from Global View. Write to 4) The beams form a hexagonal with the land have formed a Land Global View, Rt. 3 Spring Green, Wisc. network around the sphere, and where Service to work with the problem of 53588 the six beam-ends meet is called a node. regenerating the total ecosystem of A steel spiral reinforces this joint which lands not only in Auroville but also in 22 the surrounding areas. They are Trysem (Government of India) - · August 12th: A glimpse of Art undertaking a survey to evaluate the Forty young villagers are being trained It was truly a glimpse - an exhibition various types of land and possibilities in different handicraft units under this at the Tripura Pavilion at Bharat Nivas for use. With the help of the results of scheme concerning self-employment in offering a wide spectrum of variety and this survey Land Service will link with rural areas. style: paintings, drawings, tapestries L' Avenir d' Auroville, the town Fourth Dimension - Education in done by Aurovilians - and yet a very planning group, to decide where to plan technical drawing, estimating, new experience for us. New, but long for housing, parks, rice fields and the surveying and theoretical knowledge of awaited, it came like a release into football stadium! building construction. Four students freedom with a possibility to create! It are now being instructed. was like a breath of fresh air - and we Education inhaled deeply. (Extracts from the Auroville Review Tutoring - There are many skills in No.9, Sept., 1983) Auroville which are shared with BROOD, EAGLE MOTHER individuals or small groups wherever Aspects of Education in Auroville the environment is most suitable. The Brood, Eagle Mother of eaglets Centre School - Kindergarten, subjects include: technical drawing, with your wide-winging thoughts primary school, plus arts and crafts mechanics, carpentry, graphics, of love warming the small worlds space for 40 children between 3-12 years drawing, painting, English, French, beneath of age. Basic programme of Tamil, Hindi, pottery, astronomy, yor prayer-feathered breast, that to mathematics, science, history, computer science, puppet making and freedom geography, English, French, drawing, design, acting, Indian music, (tabla, from darkness they break painting and crafts. flute, harmonium, piano, violin, guitar, into the Light measureless Fertile School - "Kids' access centre" percussion and synthesizer). of new horizons, their flight for IO children between 9-18 years of Physical Education - Physical take from your nesting age. Regular programme of education is an indispensable part of far into their future mathematics, natural science, English, Auroville's development. It is an oneness with sky & yet higher French and Tamil. The emphasis is on important balance to the manual work aeries. continuous investigation and guided required from Aurovilians, an essential self-discovery within a specifically aspect of the physical and psychological Brood, Eagle Mother of eaglets designed environment. This centre has a growth of the children and an obvious with your stern-pinioned plumes main meeting room, small library and activity to promote friendship and of love protecting the small globes until carpentry workshop. Two workshops, teamwork between members of they stir, gathering strength for freedom one for pottery and one for silk screen Auroville and the people of the from shell, to break printing are under construction. surrounding villages. There are at into the Vast measureless Fraternity School - Classrooms for present 3 main sports centres in the of new horizons at last, 75 children between 5-13 years of age. communities of Aspiration, Certitude far into their future Formal schooling with a nutrition and and Fraternity. oneness with Space hygiene programme. The sports The following activities take place programme is attended by either in these centres or in other oneness with Space approximately 100 children mainly communities with smaller or more and yet wider spaces. from the nearby village of specialized facilities: football, body­ Brood, Eagle Mother of eaglets Kuilapalayam. building, swimming, tennis, volleyball, Haignarkal Evening School - For the with your far'seeing eyes softball, basketball, horseback riding, of love scouting, for newly-hatched "out of school" group of Tamil gymnastics, trapeze, tightrope walking, Aurovilian children. The object is to worlds, juggling, roller skating, dance, body abysses canyoned below them, insight help the students increase skills in movement, jogging, walking, cycling, reading, writing, mathematics and to map their flight table-tennis, boxing, running, kabbadi, below as above measureless Tamil in addition to the study of hatha yoga, aikido, boken, t'ai-chi. English, science, history, geography past ancient horizons and Indian culture. The emphasis is on a Cultural Week: Aug. 10-18 into their future functional literacy programme and August 9th-10th oneness with Time revival of rural crafts and folk arts. The theatre group "Expression and yet farther Timelessness. Annainagar School - Classes for Auroville" p~sented a pie<;e on the Brood, Eagle Mother of eaglets Scheduled Caste children from the French Revolution, The Heart and the with your in-gathering sweep villages of Kottakarai and Hand. Not only did it evoke the of love teaching its truth Alankuppam. English, Tamil, atmosphere and ideas of a certain to all fledglings: heights & deeps physiology, geography and mathe­ period of history but made us we break into matics are being taught daily between 6- experience a certain identity with them - of eagle Wonders measureless, 9 a.m. and 6-9 p.m. An infant nutrition as something that is part of our miracles breathing, breaking programme is an important aspect of experience of Auroville, its past, present free of old shells to fly the work of this school. and future. far into our future Adult Literacy Classes - Adult This play was also presented in oneness on wings of love. lite.racy classes for workers of Pondicherry on the 20th and in Madras handicrafts units three times a week in on the 24th at the Alliance Francaise. Seyril Schochen English and Tamil at Fraternity. Boulder, Colorado 23 IN BETWEEN What little I have of you, What little can do with what I have, So it begins A future's forerunner thirty seconds of your fierce attention In the heat of the deep it's a freak they say thirteen years ago, and the rest, With the bird's languid glide deep in heart we know books, photos, flowers, Through the air. there is no return hours of vague speculation Animal magnetism evolves to it's ahead into the unknown about the invisible worlds Heightened Spiritual healing we, a mist of Thee in which we may be together still In this blessed time. earthly missioned I pray as I think back The very sensuality of the cells for a time in the between on a long day when I did not think Is aspiring for release in wideness. from that great unseen once of you who changed me Gloria, Gloria, Gloria in a cloud of dancing cells to what I am and what I do Light of Lights; to the depths and heights with what little I have The Bliss of Divine Love her:e and there and everywhere of You. just being in this between Comes shivering.down. Venagopal It covers Earth Chandra (Joel Goodman) As a mother gently covers her child ODE TO FALLING LEAVES in sleep With a lace shawl. Poetry, element in which we move as A gentle kiss is given MOTHER'S TOUCH fish in water ... And if we are prepared, 15th St. Denise Levertov It becomes the all consuming embrace. In the river's stream cool water sliding From erotic to seraphic Softly changing Floating free It is One. all remaining from· cold tree Deep from the heart bones' dead touch, Burning white Naked floating taste at last Against this very dark night locked in dreaming the poetry minds unwinding you lived in Miriam Belov all summer. September 1983 In the river's stream Manhattan Island you are with me Nestle now ever gently near thistle-bite, Moving on the edge of time holding my hand. crisp wind­ Dancing wildly in my spirit, by Margo McLeod turned pages. Gordon I appeal to the Grace. Deep, deep as in the intensity Of a primal landscape, I feel all creatures in my very flesh THOUGHTS AND APHORISMS While the glow of my soul - Laser white in aspiration - Jana Hews the path through the dense environs. There are two allied powers in man: Knowledge and For the consecreation has taken place. Wisdom. Knowledge is so much of the truth, seen in a The air is full of concentration. distorted medium, as the mind arrives at by groping; Wisdom what the eye of divine vision sees in the spirit. Making it of a dream, Making it of a memory, Late, I learned that when reason died then Wisdom was The fantastic magic is reality. born; before that liberation, I had only knowledge. Savage splendour in the What the soul sees and has experienced, that it knows; the Lotus jungle rest is appearance, prejudice and opinion. Beyond all, The scent intoxicates my very body, A thought is an arrow shot at the truth; it can hit a point, As my soul sways towards the ultimate but not cover the whole target. But the archer is too well Union with the Lord satisfied with his success to ask anything farther.

When Wisdom comes, her first lesson is, "There is no such thing as knowledge; there are only apercus of the Infinite Miriam Belov Deity." New York City From Sri Aurobindo, Thoughts 1982 August and Aphorisms, Vol. 17, Chapt. 4, pp. 79-104. 24