September 2016 Newsletter - Web

September 2016 SRI AUROBINDO SOCIETY VOL 30.09 Singapore Permit No. MCI (P) 069/01/2016 NEWSLETTER Physical Culture Rest and Sleep Opens out in calm relaxation. The true repose is that of perfect surrender to the DivineBotanical Name: Clerodendrum ugandenseCommon Name: Butterfly BushSpiritual Significance: Repose Day sank into the burning gold of eve; The moon floated, a luminous waif through heaven, And sank below the oblivious edge of dream; Night lit the watch-fires of eternity. Then all went back into mind's secret caves; A darkness stooping on the heaven-bird's wings Sealed in her senses from external sight And opened the stupendous depths of sleep. - Savitri, Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2016. Guiding Light of the Month “As soon as one becomes conscious and convinced of this, one can no longerworry about future circumstances or the turn events take; it is with perfect serenitythat one does at every moment what one thinks best, convinced that the best too is sure to come from it, even if it is not the result which we, with our limited reasoning, expected from it. That is why, Lord, our heart is light, our thought inrepose. That is why we turn to Thee in all confidence and say peacefully: May Thy will be done, in it true harmony is realised.” The Mother, ‘Prayers and Meditations’ March 18, 1914In this editorial, we examine rest and sleep as a From the Editor’s Deskcomponent of physical culture. Rest refers to the on the body and psychology. One sign of the bodycessation of movement or activity in order to relax lacking its needed hours of sleep is the tendency to goor take a break from an intense activity, and sleep into micro sleep during daytime while in the middlerefers to a state of bodily rest where the mind and of an activity. Micro sleep refers to brief moments ofbody are at rest, usually for several hours in the sleep during waking hours. Rest,night hours. In this state, the postural muscles are at according to Dr. Mathew Edlund, is of four types:rest, the eyes closed, and the nervous system social, mental, physical and spiritual rest. Social restrelatively inactive with the surface consciousness occurs when one spends time with relations, friends ormore or less suspended. The state of sleep occurs in colleagues. Mental rest occurs when we pull ourselvesevery animal in its own pattern as a recoil from out of an engaging mental activity by focussing on thephysical activity so that the bodily engine is given a breath and directing our concentration on somethingrest or a break. During this period of sleep, the particular, such as a place of significance and beautyenergies of the being is directed to an internal and ‘seeing’ oneself move in that space such as alongactivity that heals the body of fatigue, repairs a beach or a “sun drabbled forest”. Imagination maydamaged cells and tissues, such as of the skeletal help in this and the mind enters through a rest phase.muslces, heart muscles and the blood vessels, Physical rest occurs when we deliberately take deepregulates the body’s reaction to insulin, the breaths, fill our lungs with oxygen and let this exercisehormone that controls the blood glucose level, continue till oxygen replenishes the body system.balances the hormones that control hunger and Lastly, spiritual rest entails meditative practices andkeeps the body’s immune system in order. Sleep prayers.replenishes and rejuvenates the entire body so as toprepare it for another day’s existence and probably When we systematically and rigorously observe ourtowards a better chance of survival. Studies have tendency to follow certain rest or sleep patterns, andshown that the mind creates new pathways during start observing our bodily functions and state of being,sleep and prepares the being to remember lessons we may realise our needs in this area of physicaland prepare to receive new information. A sleep culture. To remedy defects in our habits of rest anddeficient person finds it difficult to make decisions, sleep requires will and discipline. One finds thatsolve problems, process new information of usually vital desires and perceived needs influence oursituations effectively, controlling emotions and life-style. When we become aware of these, andmanaging change. It is quite clear that in an ordinary become clearer about our aim in life, and support thisperson, sleep is of prime importance for the with a deep aspiration for progress towards that aim,continuity of a certain quality of life and eventually then somehow, life falls into order and rest and sleepof life itself. It is said that one or two hours of lost find their own congenial patterns, offering us thesleep can show tangible effects needed replenishment, and rejuvenation to head towards the aim of our lives.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 2

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2016. Savitri Here in the fashioning chamber of the worlds. An interval was left twixt act and act, Twixt birth and birth, twixt dream and waking dream, A pause that gave new strength to do and be. (Book two, Canto fifteen) His day is a moment in perpetual Time; He is the prey of the minutes and the hours. (Book three, Canto four) Questions and AnswersQ: Sweet Mother, Why is it better to go to bed early and to get up early?The Mother: When the sun sets, a kind of peace descends on earth and this peace is helpful forsleep. When the sun rises, a vigorous energy descends on earth and this energy is helpful for work.When you go to bed late and get up late, you contradict the forces of Nature, and that is not verywise. Blessings.Q: Sweet Mother, Often after a long meditation (an effort to meditate), I feel very tired and wantto rest. Why is this and how can I feel differently?The Mother: So long as you are making an effort, it is not meditation and there is not much use inprolonging this state. To obtain mental silence, one must learn to relax, to let oneself float on thewaves of the universal force as a plank floats on water, motionless but relaxed. Effort is neversilent.(CWM, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry) For an Effective Rest during SleepSleep must not be a fall into unconsciousness which makes the body heavy instead of refreshingit. Eating with moderation and abstaining from all excess greatly reduces the need to spend manyhours in sleep; however, the quality of sleep is much more important than its quantity. In order tohave a truly effective rest and relaxation during sleep, it is good as a rule to drink something beforegoing to bed, a cup of milk or soup or fruit-juice, for instance. Light food brings a quiet sleep. Oneshould, however, abstain from all copious meals, for then the sleep becomes agitated and isdisturbed by nightmares, or else is dense, heavy and dulling.But the most important thing of all is to make the mind clear, to quieten the emotions and calm theeffervescence of desires and the preoccupations which accompany them. If before retiring to bedone has talked a lot or had a lively discussion, if one has read an exciting or intensely interestingbook, one should rest a little without sleeping in order to quieten the mental activity, so that thebrain does not engage in disorderly movements while the other parts of the body alone are asleep.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 3

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2016.Those who practise meditation will do well to concentrate for a few minutes on a lofty and restfulidea, in an aspiration towards a higher and vaster consciousness.Their sleep will benefit greatly from this and they will largely be spared the risk of falling intounconsciousness while they sleep.(CWM, Volume 12, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry) On DreamsAs a general rule, each individual has a period of the night that is more favourable for dreams,during which his activity is more fertile, more intellectual, and the mental circumstances of theenvironment in which he moves are more interesting.The great majority of dreams have no other value than that of a purely mechanical and uncontrolledactivity of the physical brain, in which certain cells continue to function during sleep as generatorsof sensory images and impressions conforming to the pictures received from outside.These dreams are nearly always caused by purely physical circumstances—state of health,digestion, position in bed, etc.With a little self-observation and a few precautions, it is easy to avoid this type of dream, whichis as useless as it is tiring, by eliminating its physical causes.There are also other dreams which are nothing but futile manifestations of erratic activities ofcertain mental faculties, which associate ideas, conversations and memories that come together atrandom.Such dreams are already more significant, for these erratic activities reveal to us the confusion thatprevails in our mental being as soon as it is no longer subject to the control of our will, and showus that this being is still not organised or ordered within us, that it is not mature enough to have anautonomous life.Almost the same in form to these, but more important in their consequences, are the dreams whichI mentioned just now, those which arise from the inner being seeking revenge when it is freed fora moment from the constraint that we impose upon it. These dreams often enable us to perceivetendencies, inclinations, impulses, desires of which we were not conscious so long as our will torealise our ideal kept them concealed in some obscure recess of our being.You will easily understand that rather than letting them live on unknown to us, it is better to bringthem boldly and courageously to the light, so as to force them to leave us forever.We should therefore observe our dreams attentively; they are often useful instructors who can giveus a powerful help on our way towards self-conquest.If our night has enabled us to gain some new knowledge—the solution of a problem, a contact ofour inner being with some centre of life or light, or even the accomplishment of some useful task—we shall always wake up with a feeling of strength and well-being.The hours that are wasted in doing nothing good or useful are the most tiring.(CWM, Volume 2, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry)www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 4

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2016. The Mother says… On Rest and Sleep I know by experience that it is not by lessening the food that sleep becomes conscious;the body becomes restless but this in no way increases the consciousness. It is in good, sound andquiet sleep that one can get in contact with a deeper part of oneself. ***Before you go to bed, concentrate a few seconds in the aspiration that the sleep may restore yourfatigued nerves, bring to your brain calmness and quietness, that on waking up you may, withrenewed vigour, begin again your journey on the path of the great discovery. ***I hope that soon you will completely recover and that you will not feel tired any more. But are youeating enough? Sometimes it is hunger that keeps one from sleeping.My blessings are always with you. ***Sleep is indispensable in the present state of the body. It is by a progressive control over thesubconscient that the sleep can become more and more conscious. ***Proper rest is a very important thing for the sadhana. - The Mother(CWM, Volume 14, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry) July-August Sunday Activities at the Centre- A glimpseJuly 17th - Hymns of the Mystic Fire:Our reverence to the Lord Agni (the Fire) starts from the dawn with lighting up of the lamps at thealtar of the gods. Agni inside and outside our existence tells us amply how HE is the imperative“FORCE”.For HIM, the first mandala of Rig Veda opens with 10 hymns of the seer Madhuchchhandas, sonof Vishwamitra.MADHUCHCHHANDAS VAISHWAMITRASUKTA 1www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 5

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2016.1. I adore the Flame, the vicar, the divine Ritwik of the Sacrifice, the summoner who most foundsthe ecstasy.2. The Flame adorable by the ancient sages is adorable too by the new. He brings here the Gods.3. By the Flame one enjoys a treasure that verily increases day by day, glorious, most full of hero-power.4. O Flame! the pilgrim-sacrifice on every side of which thou art with the environing being, thattruly goes among the Gods.5. The Flame, the summoner, the Seer-Will, true and most full of richly varied listenings, may hecome a God with the Gods.6. O Flame! the happy good which thou shalt create for the giver is that Truth and verily Thine, OAngiras!7. To thee, O Flame! we day by day, in the night and in the light, come, carrying by our thoughtthe obeisance.8. To thee, who reignest over our pilgrim-sacrifices, luminous guardian of the Truth, increasing inthy own home.9. Therefore, be easy of access to us as a father unto his son, cling to us for our happy state.July 24th - Savitri- An Unending Journey:We continued our journey of Savitri, meditating on the pictures 12 to 18 from Secret Knowledge,Canto 4, Book 1.Summary of the pictures as follows:There are great Gods emanating from the Supreme Divine, who are beyond Time, Space and Deathand not subject to the currents of life movement but watch the Light of Consciousness at work tochange the course of world movement. Time - Purusha with his mighty ride brings about thechanges for the progress, breaking the resistance to cosmic movement and returns even before themortals realise!Light from the flame of the Divine Agni brings the matter closer to Spirit which is now divorcedfrom it. Man will no more be subject to the impulsion of ignorant desire but a radiation of thedivine Power.July 31st - Secret of Veda:An introduction to Mandala 1 Suktas 1 to 9 of Rig Veda and the importance of God Agni wasemphasized by Jared. Chanting of all the Suktas were also done. Detailed explanations of eachSukta will be taken up in subsequent sessions.August 7th - Reading from AIM Magazine:We read some passages from the AIM Magazine March 2016, Pathways to the Future.The passage we read about was “What is True attitude”www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 6

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2016.True attitude is being transparent, receptive to the new force.To wriggle out from our material consciousness from its depth of hard rock ignorance built bysufferings and struggles, we have to have endurance, patience and wipe out pessimism. We haveto perfect ourselves first instead of getting disturbed and agitated by others imperfection.Clinging to our old ways of knowing, feeling, loving and judging is like getting glued with monsterglue to our ignorance without the thirst for Truth and transformation.August 14th - Q&A from The Mother’s Complete works Volume 8“Inadequate too is the very frequent attempt at a mis-alliance between the vital and the spiritual, amystic experience within with an aestheticised intellectual and sensuous Paganism or exaltedhedonism outside leaning upon it and satisfying itself in the glow of a spiritual sanction.” TheSynthesis of Yoga (page... 128)Question - What does Sri Aurobindo mean by an “aesthecised Paganism”?Mother’s answer: What Sri Aurobindo means is different pantheons of different countries likeGreece or India evolved from giving aesthetic and intellectual transformation to every aspect ofNature. It is a symbolic and artistic and literary and poetic way of dealing with all the universalforces and realities.It is a kind of approach to Truth or a reality!August 15th - Sri Aurobindo’s 144th Birth Anniversary- A special Programme.The evening programme started with Meditation music.The floral arrangement done by Marty and family brought a luminous joy to the atmosphere.After the reading of the prayers, the Darshan Day message was read by Ramachandran.“He has come to bid the earth to prepare for its luminous future.” - The Mother.Our Chairman Kashyapji gave a very interesting account of birth and growth of the Sri AurobindoCentre in Singapore and the activities that are conducted followed by Invocation music by AnandVenkat which filled the atmosphere with devotional calm. He also read the poem Krishna by SriAurobindo.Then the story of Sri Aurobindo Society in Singapore began with the visual treat of pictures takenfrom 1972 to 1993.It was a great experience reliving the days and listening to the valuable contributions of Mr DevanNair, Dr Nadkarni, Ms Sonia Dyne, Konkana and many others, towards spiritual enriching of themembers with Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy.A video of the beautiful Matrimandir and its surrounding was shown followed by Sri Aurobindo’sMantra “Om Anandamayi Chaitanyamayi”. Our Ananda continued with delicious Mahaprasadorganised by Mr Popatbhai Patel. - Jayalakshmiwww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 7

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2016. PROGRAMME FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER 2016 DATE TIME DETAILS4th September 2016 8:00 AM Monthly Morning Walk * 6:00 PM Sunday 6:00 PM Q&A from Mother Complete works Volume 84th September 2016 6:00 PM Followed by Om Choir 6:00 PM Sunday Study Circle – Part 3 “The Secret of the Veda”11th September 2016 (pg. 393-556) Sunday Offering of Devotional Music By Shantanu Bhatacharya18th September 2016 from Calcutta Sunday Savitri – An unending Journey25th September 2016 Sunday* Please see below for details. SEPTEMBER 2016 MORNING WALK – NO. 373Date: Sunday, 4th September 2016Time: 8:00 A.M. sharp for warm up exercise Please note that after warm up exercise we shall proceed with the walk by 8.20 AM.Walk venue: East Coast ParkMeeting Point: East Coast Car Park E2 (near East Lagoon Food Village)Contact No: Mr. Anand Patel (98307621)Hosts: Mr. Arjun Madan 31, Simei Street 3 # 09-18, My Manhattan, Singapore 529902 (opposite to Simei MRT) (Hosted at function room 2 on level 7 of the car park block)RSVP [email protected]: HP: 91867269Directions to Driving:the hosts’ a) PIE (heading from City to Airport) Simei Avenue Exit 4A -> Turn leftresidence: to Simei Street 3. b) PIE (heading from Airport to City) Simei Road Exit 3A -> Turn Right to Simei Street 3www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 8

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2016. Bus: 5,9,20,38,531 Please head to the visitor parking on level 4, and take the lift to level 7 for function room 2Note: 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. PREVIEW OF FORTHCOMING SUNDAY MORNING WALKSWALK DATE PLACE HOST NO 374 02/10/2016 Gardens by the Bay Mr Sashi Lal Kashyap & Family 06/11/2016 TBA Mr Ritesh Thacker & Family 375 04/12/2016 TBA TBA 376Note: We invite volunteers to host the December walk. Please contact Mr. S.Ramanathan(91385130) if you are interested in hosting the December walk. Along the Way…The venue for this walk was Mac Ritchie Reservoir.Mention Mac Ritchie to any Singaporean and the talk will certainly turn to cross-country runs,nature trails and the Treetop Walk. Anchored by Singapore’s largest reservoir - part of a watercatchment system that captures rain water - the park and nature reserve at the very heart ofSingapore is a popular destination for runners, water sports enthusiasts, and of course, naturelovers.There were 8 of us assembled at around 8am. With Mr Ramanathan leading the warming upexercises, we paid our salutations to Surya Bhagavan with Sri Aurobindo’s mantra. “Om NamoBagavathe Sri Aurobindaya Sharanam mama.” This is the mantra for Peace, Protection, Purity,Perfection and Progress. It means \"Om, I offer my obeisance to the Divine Personality of SriAurobindo.\"At 8am the whole place was bursting with energy. The people in Singapore really go to greatlengths to keep their physical fitness topping high! Interacting with a person doing yoga kind ofexercises, we learnt that that person walks and jogs 10 miles around the reservoir and does yogastretches with his friends four times a week!What discipline! Just amazing and inspiring!www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 9

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2016. The path we chose was very stony and rugged! Ramanathan’s force of speed took his friends to the finishing line in no time. My friend Manjula and Prithi and I had a very interesting conversation with our eyes fixed on the ground to avoid any breakage of bones. We could finish only half the distance before returning to the meeting point. At our host’s, Mr KV Rao and Shailja’s 17th floor, Mandale Heights home, every beautiful display kept me absorbed! The whole atmosphere was reverberating with joy and the variety of food was very delightful! Our Sincere thanks to Raos’ family for the beautiful self-forgetting experience! - Jayalakshmi ANNOUNCEMENTS \"Good health is the exterior expression of an inner harmony\" - The MotherThe above saying by The Mother plants in us the seeds of aspiration for good health. Wishing to nurturethese seeds into strong trees, the editorial team has decided to explore the subject of 'Health and Healing'in the light of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo and base it as the theme for forthcoming issues of theNewsletter. We welcome readers to this exploration and invite them to share their views and experienceson the same. The article can be written as a word document and e-mailed to [email protected],[email protected] and [email protected] best by 12th of the previous month. 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 10