December 2016 Newsletter

December 2016 SRI AUROBINDO SOCIETY VOL 30.12 Singapore Permit No. MCI (P) 069/01/2016 NEWSLETTER Vital well-being Purification of the Vital Vital Aspiration for the Union with the Divine - It raises straight up in an intense and concentrated movement.Botanical Name: Bauhinia purpureaCommon Name: KnotweedSpiritual Significance: Vital Aspiration for the Union with the Divine A calm slow sun looked down from tranquil heavens. And Savitri’s life was glad, fulfilled like earth’s; She had found herself, she knew her being’s aim. - Savitri, Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2016. Guiding Light of the Month“There is only the immense universe, our sublime Mother, burning withan ardent fire of purification in honour of Thee, O Lord, divine Master,sovereign Will, so that this Will may meet with no farther obstacle in the way of its realisation.” The Mother, ‘Prayers and Meditations’ September 14, 1914 From the Editor’s DeskThe December issue of our Newsletter marks the a flood of light enters, and then you feel so glad afterwards, so happy that you ask yourself, “Whypassage of one more little cycle of the wheels of from what foolishness did I resist so long?”” Lastlytime rolling onwards. We cast a glance at the past perhaps, is needed the patience to wait for the neededyear of experiences and continue making change in our nature, since the nature as it is, isresolutions for changes in ourselves as we keep composed of a complex mix of atavisms, inheritedburning bright the flame of aspiration for Progress substance, conditioned reflexes since childhood, andand Purification. Perhaps it is timely that this issue dark seeds of psychological tendencies that workcarries the light of Purification of the Vital, to keep from the subconscient nature that need a longer orus on track as we contemplate on the guiding shorter period of treatment from higher forceswords of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. working towards the change.The action of purification of the whole of one’s A vital purification calls for the awareness of and thenature, let alone the vital nature calls for a few pre- eventual opening of vital workings to the divine,requisites to be met. Firstly one needs an aim in offering at His feet all that is in one that has to belife, an aim as high and uplifted and so will fall in strengthened and all that needs to be changed. Theplace the need for purification of one’s nature. more consciously vehement the calling and sincereSecondly, a recognition of areas that need to be the offering, the faster the change would be, as thechanged, by the mental and the vital being is being wants the change and is psychologicallynecessary in order to effect in this life the needed prepared for it. An eventual metamorphosis of thechange. This requires a truthful and persistent self- being too is eminent, however long or short theobservation carried out every moment, if that is duration. One alone can surmise the change that onepossible or at least during as many periods as is undergoes. Within one, one knows the extent ofpossible for the evolving consciousness. Thirdly, progress.the will to effect the needed action, mentally orvitally, is needed, in order to bring about this How rejuvenating when one thinks of a vital purifiedchange in one’s life. For example, if a certain and converted. As a milestone of the journeynegative thought pulls one down, this requires once marking one’s progress in the purification of theagain an observation of the inbuilt resistances and vital, The Mother offers that the “… remarkable signlaxities that operate to make us slide down the of the conversion of your vital, owing to Agni’sladder. Against this downward pull is needed the influence, is that you face your difficulties andstrong will to exceed oneself for the better. The obstacles with a smile. You do not sit any more inMother advises that it would be a great aid if one sackcloth and ashes, lamenting over your mistakes andcan admit one’s own mistakes instead of hiding feeling utterly crestfallen because you are not at thethem. If one observes keenly, one can sense a great moment quite up to the mark. You simply chase awayresistance to admitting mistakes. However, once depression with a smile. A hundred mistakes do notone is able to overcome this resistance, then the matter to you: with a smile you recognise that you havepath opens wide before one. As The Mother says, erred and with a smile you resolve not to repeat the“… it is open and strangely folly in the future.”www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 2

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2016. Savitri Although her kingdom of marvellous change within Remained unspoken in her secret breast, All that lived round her felt its magic’s charm: The trees’ rustling voices told it to the winds, Flowers spoke in ardent hues and unknown joy, The birds’ carolling became a canticle, The beasts forgot their strife and lived at ease. (Book seven, Canto six) A light invaded all from her being’s light; Her heart-beats’ dance communicated bliss: Happiness grew happier, shared with her, by her touch And grief some solace found when she drew near. (Book seven, Canto six) Joy and Smile is a Converted VitalAnother remarkable sign of the conversion of your vital, owing to Agni’s influence, is that you faceyour difficulties and obstacles with a smile. You do not sit any more in sackcloth and ashes, lamentingover your mistakes and feeling utterly crestfallen because you are not at the moment quite up to themark. You simply chase away depression with a smile. A hundred mistakes do not matter to you: witha smile you recognise that you have erred and with a smile you resolve not to repeat the folly in thefuture. All depression and gloom is created by the hostile forces who are never so pleased as whenthrowing on you a melancholy mood. Humility is indeed one thing and depression quite another, theformer a divine movement and the latter a very crude expression of the dark forces. Therefore, faceyour troubles joyously, oppose with invariable cheerfulness the obstacles that beset the road totransformation. The best means of routing the enemy is to laugh in his face! You may grapple andtussle for days and he may still show an undiminished vigour; but just once laugh at him and lo! hetakes to his heels. A laugh of self-confidence and of faith in the Divine is the most shattering strengthpossible—it disrupts the enemy’s front, spreads havoc in his ranks and carries you triumphantlyonwards.The converted vital feels also a joy in the process of realisation. All the difficulties implied in thatprocess it accepts with gusto, it never feels happier than when the Truth is shown it and the play offalsehood in its lower nature laid bare. It does not do the Yoga as if carrying a burden on its back butas if it were a very pleasurable occupation. It is willing to endure the utmost with a smile if it is acondition of the transformation. Neither complaining nor grumbling, it endures happily because it isfor the sake of the Divine that it does so. It has the unshakable conviction that the victory will be won.Never for an instant does it vacillate in its belief that the mighty work of Change taken up by SriAurobindo is going to culminate in success. For that indeed is a fact; there is not a shadow of doubt asto the issue of the work we have in hand. It is no mere experiment but an inevitable manifestation ofthe Supramental. The converted vital has a prescience of the victory, keeps up a will towards progresswhich never turns its back, feels full of the energy which is born of its certitude about the triumph ofthe Divine whom it is aware of always in itself as doing whatsoever is necessary and infusing in it theunfaltering power to resist and finally conquer its enemies. Why should it despair or complain? Thetransformation is going to be: nothing will ever stop it, nothing will frustrate the decree of theOmnipotent. Cast away, therefore, all diffidence and weakness, and resolve to endure bravely awhilebefore the great day arrives when the long battle turns into an everlasting victory.(CWM, Volume 3, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry)www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 3

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2016. Sense of Beauty Cittaśuddhi, the purification of the heart, is the appointed road by which man arrives at hishigher fulfilment, and, if it can be shown that poetry and art are powerful agents towards that end, their supreme importance is established.The sense of pleasure and delight in the emotional aspects of life and action, this is the poetry oflife, just as the regulating and beautiful arrangement of character and action is the art of life. Wehave seen how the latter purifies, but the purifying force of the former is still more potent for good.Our life is largely made up of the eight rasas. The movements of the heart in its enjoyment ofaction, its own and that of others, may either be directed downwards, as is the case with the animalsand animal men, to the mere satisfaction of the ten sense-organs and the vital desires which makeinstruments of the senses in the average sensual man, or they may work for the satisfaction of theheart itself in a predominatingly emotional enjoyment of life, or they may be directed upwardsthrough the medium of the intellect, rational and intuitional, to attainment of delight through theseizing on the source of all delight, the Spirit, the satyam, sundaram, ānandam who is beyond andaround, the source and the basis of all this world-wide activity, evolution and progress. When theheart works for itself, then it enjoys the poetry of life, the delight of emotions, the wonder, pathos,beauty, enjoyableness, lovableness, calm, serenity, clarity and also the grandeur, heroism, passion,fury, terror and horror of life, of man, of Nature, of the phenomenal manifestation of God. This isnot the highest, but it is higher than the animal, vital and externally aesthetic developments. Thelarge part it plays in life is obvious, but in life it is hampered by the demands of body and the vitalpassions. Here comes in the first mighty utility, the triumphant activity of the most energetic formsof art and poetry. They provide a field in which these pressing claims of the animal can be excludedand the emotions, working disinterestedly for the satisfaction of the heart and the imaginationalone, can do the work of katharsis, emotional purification, of which Aristotle spoke. Cittaśuddhi,the purification of the heart, is the appointed road by which man arrives at his higher fulfilment,and, if it can be shown that poetry and art are powerful agents towards that end, their supremeimportance is established. They are that, and more than that. It is only one of the great uses of thesethings which men nowadays are inclined to regard as mere ornaments of life and therefore ofsecondary importance.We have spoken of the purification of the heart, the cittaśuddhi, which Aristotle assigned as theessential office of poetry, and have pointed out that it is done in poetry by the detached anddisinterested enjoyment of the eight rasas or forms of emotional aestheticism which make up lifeunalloyed by the disturbance of the lower self-regarding passions. Painting and sculpture work inthe same direction by different means. Art sometimes uses the same means as poetry but cannotdo it to the same extent because it has not the movement of poetry; it is fixed, still, it expressesonly a given moment, a given point in space and cannot move freely through time and region. Butit is precisely this stillness, this calm, this fixity which gives its separate value to Art. Poetry raisesthe emotions and gives each its separate delight. Art stills the emotions and teaches them thedelight of a restrained and limited satisfaction,—this indeed was the characteristic that the Greeks,a nation of artists far more artistic than poetic, tried to bring into their poetry. Music deepens theemotions and harmonises them with each other. Between them music, art and poetry are a perfecteducation for the soul; they make and keep its movements purified, self-controlled, deep andharmonious. These, therefore, are agents which cannot profitably be neglected by humanity on itsonward march or degraded to the mere satisfaction of sensuous pleasure which will disintegraterather than build the character. They are, when properly used, great educating, edifying andcivilising forces.(SABCL, Volume 17, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry)www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 4

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2016. Flowers speak… On Vital well-being Spiritual Awakening of the Vital: It soars towards the heights in the hope of reaching them. Look into the depths of your heart and you will see there the Divine Presence. ***Power of Vital Expression: It is useful only when thevital is converted.A great joy is always deep in our heart, and always wecan find it there. *** Harmony in the Material Vital: No disputes, no quarrels the sweetness of a life without clashes. A harmonious collective aspiration can change the course of circumstances. ***Krishna's Play in the Vital: In His midst it has all itscharm.The Divine is always seated in your heart, consciouslyliving in you.(Flowers and their Messages, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry)www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 5

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2016. A Spiritual song in the midst of NatureDancing peacocks, singing birds, lush green trees playing with the wind, pretty geese runningaround, rabbits and many more beautiful nature weaved together make a cherubic little villageknown as Sri Aurobindo Ashram in the heart of urban Delhi. A row of pomegranate flowerswelcomes one inside the campus.Like a poem stitched together with lovely expressions, the place houses many sweet creations. Atone corner is a shrine and a meditation hall dedicated to The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. The shrineis both royal and simple at the same time. Fragrance of the colorful flowers and Tulasi leaves fillthe place. Evenings are musical at the meditation hall. Inmates of the Ashram sing from their hearta soft melody accompanied by harmonium and tambura that flows like a river around the place.The musical evenings end with readings from The Mother’s works.A calm residential block is built around a flower courtyard and it houses the inmates and guestsstaying at the Ashram for a short time. Numerous trees adorn the block and one is awakened bythe call of birds every morning. Volunteers clean the place and create a merry environment around.The dining hall serves sumptuous food and sings of a very homely atmosphere.I have read about the Vedic schools of ancient India and wondered how it would be if it is re-created today with a modern outlook. Wise rishis are teachers and children stay with them duringthe initial years of their growth. There is not the procedure of studying with rules, fixed classroomsand reading textbooks. It is all about just being in the atmosphere and growing together. Learningjust happens, along with everyone. During my stay at the Ashram, I was fortunate for having spenta week with the children and diyas of the garden of wisdom called Mirambika where I foundglimpses of the ancient schools taking shape.Freedom is the breeze blowing in the garden, didis stand as tall trees, diyas are glowing lamps andchildren are the beautiful flowers. Vedic chants reverberate in the place every morning and theymark the beginning of a beautiful day. I walked in the garden everyday breathing its oxygen offreedom and slightly touched the flowers growing there. I worked on adding some beauty to thegarden with the little of what I have. The flowers spoke to me in their happy glee as I decorated asmall part with pictures of sunshine, peacock and lotus. Everybody in the garden are just happybeing there. That is all it is all about. Isn’t it? And Sweet Mother is there, smiling in everyone’sheart, through all the joys and sorrows.The sunshine sparkles among the leaves every morning, squirrels run around squeaking theirwishes, peacocks walk along, little chicks happily move around, even fall is filled with sweetmelodies and the moon shines protectively through the night. All these and much more make upthe little village of the Ashram. With sweet memories in my heart I came back home with therichness of having made a beautiful journey. Perhaps, it is the place where Savitri and Satyavanare living. - Sandhya October - November Sunday Activities at the Centre- A glimpseOctober 16th – Reading from AIM:Read 3 passages from pages 5 to 7 from – All India Magazine, October 2015 - Tantra (The Worshipof Shaki).www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 6

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2016.The passages give us the knowledge of the “The Philosophy and Principle behind Tantra”. Tantradifferentiates itself from Vedic methods. Veda deals with Knowledge, whereas Tantra worshipsPrakrithi, the Will in Power. Tantra has two paths- Vama Marga (Left -hand path) and DakshinaMarga,(Right-hand path). It is distinction between the way of Ananda and the way of Knowledge.Tantric Yoga lost its principle in machinery and became a thing of formulae and occult mechanism,still powerful when rightly used but fallen from the clarity of their original intention.October 23rd – Talk by Anju di (Dr Anju Khanna) from Sri Aurobindo Ashram, DelhiBranch:Dr Anju talked about her role as the care taker of Madhuban Ramgarh - the ashram’s mountaincentre.October 30th – Savitri, An Unending Journey:We continued our journey of Savitri, meditating on the pictures 1to10, from Book One, CantoFive. The Yoga of the King: The Yoga of the Spirit’s Freedom and Greatness.Knowledge is of different kinds on this Earth. No one can have the full knowledge of differentkinds. It is only partial. The knowledge that Aswapathy received, however, was of a differentkind: it was a whole knowledge of the origin, the process and the purpose of this world-movementwhich, till then, no mortal had known. Aswapathy was admitted into the arcana of themanifestation of the Infinite in the Finite, of the Eternal in Time.Aswapathy had crossed the barrier of thought process to reach any knowledge. All thoughtobscures the object of which knowledge is sought. Even the most brilliant action of the thought-mind acts as a veil and bars the direct, entire vision of the object as it is. This curtain of outermental thought has to be parted to gain access to the inner seat of revelation. Aswapathy crossedthat barrier. All movement in the Cosmos is a transaction between Nature and Soul, Prakriti andPurusha. Aswapathy could read this obscure scroll, which is completely illegible to the humaneye, because he was in a state of illumination. The light of the Spirit-memory which shone aroundhim lit up not only the contents of the main page but also the helpful hints that had been recordedalongside to help decipher the writing. What he saw inspired Aswapathy with great hope; a Willtook possession of him to try and actualise on earth the higher realities glimpsed in the region ofLight. And in order to study that pattern at a closer range he concentrated his consciousness anddirected his inner sight to those spiritual altitudes beyond the normal physical grasp. The hopesand disappointments that are common to the normal life on earth could not touch Aswapathy. Heneither participated in those joys nor suffered those pains. He was stationed in the poise of thewitness self that regards everything but is involved in nothing, His thoughts were no more confinedto earthly interests; they ranged immensely wider and higher, purer and more concentrated in theiraspirations for the summits of the Spirit. There was also an uplifting augmentation of power. Aforce, hitherto unknown to his human body, flowed into him. It did not spend itself out leavinghim exhausted; streaming in it was a delight that was unceasing. Aswapathy felt overpowered bythis downpour of an ineffable joy.Source: Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo.November 6th – Reading from AIM Magazine:Read from October 2016 - Meditations on Love, Passages Divine Love and Petals of Love.The Mother has given the pomegranate flower the spiritual significance - Divine Love. Of all thepowers that have into creation, the most powerful is Love. It is a powerful lever that moves things.It is beyond existence and non-existence, personal and impersonal. A story goes that in Arabiawww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 7

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2016.long, long ago a wounded divine being wounded by the persecutors took refuge under apomegranate bush. The drops of blood soaked in the soil, fertilised the tree and brought outmarvellous scarlet red flowers crowded with petals. Hence it got its significance Divine Love.Mother used to distribute this flower of “Divine Love” on Kali puja day to devotees, Kali beingthe most loving aspect of all the aspects of Mahashakthi.November 13th - Reading from Questions and Answers 1956, The Mother:We read the passages, Birth: entry of the soul into the body and Formation of the supramentalworld. Mother says “You are brought here by force, the environment is imposed on you by force,the laws of atavism of the milieu by force.....” As a result of this the soul has no choice but toincarnate in the physical parents and go through the rigours to find the true path and discover itfully! Whether parents can ask for the soul they want? Though it is rare, it is possible, withspecial concentration, and meditation and aspiration. In some old countries and even now thewoman who is going to give birth to a child is placed in special conditions of beauty, harmony,peace and well-being to get a soul, exceptional in being to incarnate in her womb. In the secondpassage, Formation of the supramental world, Mother quotes from the Book on Vedas, “Thesupramental world has to be formed or created in us by the Divine will as the result of a constantexpansion and self-perfecting.” Right now our consciousness is cluttered with junks of ordinarythoughts and acts, so with constant aspiration for something better, for a vaster consciousness, atruer truth and a more universal goodness will trickle in us the supramental consciousness with theDivine will! - Jayalakshmi PROGRAMME FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER 2016DATE TIME DETAILS4th December 2016 8:00 AM Monthly Morning Walk * Sunday4th December 2016 6:00 PM Reading from AIM Magazine Sunday5th December 2016 7:00 PM Darshan Day Monday Sri Aurobindo’s Mahasamadhi Day- Special Meditation11th December 2016 6:00 PM Q & A from Mothers Complete Works Vol 8 Sunday 6:00 PM Study Circle – Part 3 “The Secret of the Veda”18th December 2016 Sunday25th December 2016 6:00 PM Chritmas Day Meditation Sunday Savitri – An unending Journey31st December 2016 11:00 PM New Year Eve Saturday 10:30 AM Midnight Meditation with reading from Savtri 1st January 2017 New Year Day Sunday Special Meditation* Please see below for details.** Since New Year Day falls on Sunday, Jan Walk is moved to Second Sunday of the monthwww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 8

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2016. DECEMBER 2016 MORNING WALK – NO. 376Date: Sunday, 4th December 2016Time: 8:00 A.M. sharp for warm up exerciseWalk Venue: Coney IslandMeeting Car park on Punggol Point Road (marked CP in the below map)Point:Contact No: Mr S.Ramanathan (9138 5130)Directions to Drivingthe Walk Via TPE, take exit 9 to Punggol road / Punggol flyover and follow Punggol roadVenue: to Punggol Point Road MRT & Bus: Reach Punggol MRT. Take bus 84 from Punggol temp interchange (bus terminal just outside the MRT station). Get down at Punggol Rd end stop (6th stop)Hosts: Mr. Ritesh Thacker & Family # 07-490, 260A, Sengkang East Way, Singapore 541260 HP: 90120151 Ritesh; 85116426 Upali RSVP: [email protected]; [email protected] The host’s residence is less than 200 metres from Sengkang MRT station.Note: All are encouraged to attend the Walk. Those, however, who are not able to join the Walk,the hosts would be very happy that they directly come to the residence and join in the brunch by10:15 AM. Prayers and meditation will commence sharp at 10.30 A.M. All are requested to bepunctual.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 9

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2016. PREVIEW OF FORTHCOMING SUNDAY MORNING WALKSWALK DATE PLACE HOST NO 377 01/01/2017 TBA M/s. Kiruthika and Adrian 05/02/2017 East Coast Park Mrs. Nisha Maheswary 378 05/03/2017 Bedok Reservoir 02/04/2017 Mr Anand K Venkat & Family 379 TBA Mr C.Krishnamurthy & Family 380 Along the Way… November 2016 Walk ReviewBy 8.00am the host for the walk Sri Ganesh Swaminathan and our walk leader Sri Ramanathanwith Jayanthi were waiting at the meeting point promptly for the walk enthusiasts to arrive. Sincethe directions for members who were driving and for those taking public transport were given veryclearly by Sri Ramanathan, we started to move without much delay, with 12 members who couldmake it.There were so many information boards about the Park’s history at every turning point that it waslike walking behind time to Singapore’s past!Imagine a place in Singapore where Malay royalty once ruled in medieval times and where theBritish decided to surrender to the invading Japanese during the Second World War.This unlikely combination of events has taken place at the hilltop of Fort Canning Park, one of thecountry’s historical landmarks.The park was originally known as Bukit Larangan, or 'Forbidden Hill' in Malay. Today, the 18-hectare space is chock-full of attractions – from ancient artefacts for history buffs to outdoor lawnsfor concerts, and of course, greenery for nature lovers. The charming boutique Hotel Fort Canningalso lies here.In between the trees, there were many art work made of wood which were simply exemplary!Since our dear Balasundari has brought the Divine beauty of Nature in all Her aspects in the lastNewsletter, I feel at a loss to add more to the beauty of the magnificent trees in this park. I canonly say I did “Manasika” circumambulation of them with the following prayer, where for meevery tree looked like the Peepal tree known in Sanskrit as Ashwattha, the King of the Trees: “Moolatho Brahma roopaya, madhyatho Vishnu roopine, Agratha shiva roopaya Vruksha rajaya they nama” Salutations to the king of trees, Whose roots are Lord Brahma,www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 10

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2016. Whose stem is Lord Vishnu, And whose crown is Lord Shiva.How can we be more blessed than to assemble at our Sri Aurobindo Centre for the meditation andprayers before the delicious South Indian brunch hosted by our dear member Sri GaneshSwaminathan!Our Sincere gratitude to you and your family, Ganesh Swaminathan for your enthusiasticparticipation in our Centre’s activity even though you are now based in Bangalore! - Jayalakshmi Printed and Published by The Sri Aurobindo Society of Singapore 2A Starlight Road 01-07, Singapore 217755.Saurab: 86559940 or [email protected]; Sanjay: 98750767 or [email protected]; Email: [email protected] Visit our website at: www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sgwww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 11