SAS October 2017 Newsletter

October 2017 SRI AUROBINDO SOCIETY VOL 31.10 Singapore Permit No. MCI (P) 071/01/2017 NEWSLETTER The Birth of Savitri Harmoniously she impressed the earth with heaven.Botanical Name: Origanum MajoranaCommon Name: Sweet MarjoramSpiritual Significance: The New Birth A world translated was her gleaming mind, And marvel-mooned bright crowding fantasies Fed with spiritual sustenance of dreams The ideal goddess in her house of gold. - Savitri, Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. October 2017. Guiding Light of the Month Tell me, wilt Thou grant me the marvellous power to give birth to this dawn in expectant hearts, to awaken the consciousness of men to Thysublime presence, and in this bare and sorrowful world awaken a little ofThy true Paradise? What happiness, what riches, what terrestrial powers can equal this wonderful gift! The Mother, ‘Prayers and Meditations’ March 31, 1917 From the Editor’s DeskThe October edition of the newsletter examines of some tremendously significant event silentlythe Birth of Savitri in the current series of themes approaching with the least perturbation, but pregnantbased on the epic poem, “Savitri”, by Sri with a holy stillness, brimming with the awareness ofAurobindo. “One man’s perfection can still save the sweetness of ecstasy that cares not to reveal itself.the world,” wrote Sri Aurobindo in the same Such is the manner in which Sri Aurobindopoem. Ashwapathy subjected himself to a introduces Savitri symbolically to the world, usingtremendous Tapasya and Yoga that led him to a powerful imagery to represent the utmost significancemighty, “psycho-spiritual transformation”. He of this birth in the whole of Existence, in the sphereoffered himself to be made into a fit vessel to of manifestation.invite and bear the powers of the Divine into his Canto 2 and 3 then brings us along on a joyous ridehuman frame as well as seeking a fitting response on the gently flowing flood of the river of herto his deep aspiration to heal the sorrowing world childhood and youth and a useful glimpse of theand lift it towards the Light of the Supreme. He nature of the Divine child already on earth to do awas a living image of an ardent aspiration and great work upon it. Reading these lines over and overcourage that called down the Divine Mother again brings a glow of gratitude in the heart, a smileherself unto this earth to rid her of suffering. He of happiness over the face and a glint of certainty infinds a response from the worlds yonder. His great the eyes poring over the lines thus penned by thefeat finds fruition as the Divine Mother herself master poet-seer.descends into the world to bring about thetransformation of earth nature and enable it to hold This seed of the divine advent planted in ourthe descending force of the Supreme. The Divine consciousness through poetic expression must meanWord rings powerfully clear in the spaces of thevoid - “One shall descend and break the iron Law, more. There must be a corresponding relevance in the lines of our own lives, of significance to the soulChange Nature’s doom by the lone spirit’s supporting it, whether explicitly or covertly. Just aspower.” – a brilliant, sure shaft of the promising there is a reference to our struggling human soul asray of actualization plunged deep into the very Satyavan, who is this Savitri in our own lives? Could she be this little flame being nurtured silently in us,heart of Nature.Part 2, Book IV of Savitri describes explicitly the hidden in the deep cave of our being, this fire,divine birth of Savitri in Canto 1. In this canto is awaiting its birth in Time? The birth of Savitri oughtthe colourful description of the passing of the year to be visited and revisited by every admirer of Savitri,with its changing seasons as the earth moved, every student of poetry, every philosopher, every man“towards some undisclosed event.” - the birth of and woman – a mystic path may just appear, disclosethe Divine Child. There is the suspense our rightful station.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 2

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. October 2017. Savitri, a journey of Love and Light The New Birth उत या%स स%वत(ीि+ रोचनोत स0य21 य रि3मिभः सम78य%स । उत रा:ीम7भयतः परीयस उत िम:ो भव%स <व धम1िभः ॥४॥But also thou goest, O Savitri, to the three shining worlds of heaven and thou art made manifest bythe rays of the Sun, and thou encirclest on both sides the Night, and thou becomest Mitra, O god,with his settled laws of Truth. उत या%स स%वत(ीि+ रोचनोत स0य12य रि3मिभः सम78य%स । उत रा:ोम7भयतः परीयस उत िम:ो भव%स <व धमि1 भः ॥४॥And thou reachest, O Savitri, to the three luminous heavens; and thou art utterly expressed by therays of the Sun; and thou encompassest the Night upon either side; and thou becomest by the law ofthy actions the lord of Love, O God.(SABCL, Volume 10, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry) Savitri, the creator A Mind empowered from Truth’s immutable seat Was framed for vision and interpreting act And instruments were sovereignly designed To express divinity in terrestrial signs.The result of the procession of the shining dawns, of the divine returns of Surya, of the increasingsof Pushan and his leading on the Path is summed up in the creation of Savitri the luminous Creator.It is the god Savitri who sets us there where the ancient doers of the Work have preceded us; that isthe desirable flame and splendour of the divine Creator on which the seer has to meditate andtowards which this god impels our thoughts, that the bliss of the creative godhead on the forms ofwhich our soul must meditate as it journeys towards it. It is the supreme creation in which thegoddess undivided and infinite speaks out her Word and the all-ruling kings Varuna, Mitra andAryaman; to that consummation the power of all these godheads turns with a united acceptance.That divine word is the word of the Truth; for a superconscient Truth lies concealed and is the basisof the infinite being which stands revealed on those higher altitudes of our ascension. What we nowaccept as life is the evil dream, the death that governs us because we live in a false knowledge, alimited and divided existence exposed to every devourer. That is not real life. For life we have to beable to look long upon the Sun; for life we have to be able to hold in our thought a knowledge anda word full of the consummate perception; we have to bring forward the Truth as an offering so thatthe luminous god with his golden hands full of the Light may rise high in our heavens and hear ourword. We must choose and take into ourselves that supreme and vast state of this Mighty One whohas the thought of the knowledge, he who creates for the gods the immortality and the highestenjoyment; we must widen out the cord of Savitri so that it shall release us into higher states of lifemade accessible to men and harmonised with their being. To hold that felicity we have to becomewww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 3

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. October 2017.free from sin and evil in the wideness and purity of Varuna, in the all-embracing harmony of Mitra,in the supreme creation of Savitri.Then Savitri shall loose away from us, shall uncreate the suffering of the evil dream. For the seekerof the straightness he shall create an increasing wideness of his existence so that even with ourincomplete knowledge we shall grow in our being towards the gods. By the godheads he will fosterour knowledge and lead us towards the universal formation of them in the undivided consciousnessof the infinite Aditi which we have chosen as our goal. All that we have done in our ignorance, inour divided and oppressed discernment of things, in our mere mortal becoming and humanity,against gods or men, he shall uncreate and make us free from the sin. For he is the creator of theRight, he is the creator who creates the Truth.That Truth he shall create in a great wideness and force of our physical being, in a rich abundanceof our mental and by its undiminishable vastness he shall uphold all the worlds of our existence.Thus in the working of Savitri whose creation is the Truth and of Mitra and Varuna the gods shalluphold in us its substance of varied light, the felicity of its energies and illuminations till all existenceis that godhead of Savitri behind us and before, below as well as above, till we possess the far-extended life and have built up the universal form of our being,—the universal form which he createsfor us when with hands of golden light, with the tongue that tastes the wine of sweetness he movesin the triple knowledge of the highest heaven of Truth, attains in the gods to the divine rhythm whichhe creates for his accomplished Law and takes up his abode in that golden strength of his, the Seerrobed in light who first stretched out his two arms of knowledge and power to create the world. Hewho as Twashtri the Fashioner of things attended always by the male godheads and their femaleenergies, powers of Purusha and powers of Prakriti, made and makes all things, shall as Savitricreate for man the thinker born in a body that Truth and Immortality.(SABCL, Volume 10, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry) Her spirit kept the stature of the gods Asocas burned in crimson spots of flame, Pure like the breath of an unstained desire White jasmines haunted the enamoured air, Pale mango-blossoms fed the liquid voice Of the love-maddened coil, and the brown bee Muttered in fragrance mid the honey-buds. The sunlight was a great god’s golden smile. All Nature was at beauty’s festival.The six tropical seasons have speeded through the year and the Goddess of eternal Time has steppedinto earthly cycles. Savitri’s arrival, marking a signal moment of the gods, is a beauty’s festival inthe bright and colourful Spring, the chosen season who brings joy to our mortal life. In it shallhappen happier and wondrous things, unblemished by death. Indeed, in her birth have taken theheavenly charm and wonder a human body. She has accepted our transient lot, and its travail, inorder to accomplish the divine task here. Savitri grows, becomes a student and a scout and a bravewarrior. She is dear to everyone in every respect. In every act and thought and feeling of hers isexpressed more and more of nobility of the high spirit. An invisible sunlight flows in her veins andher movements display the large significances of life. Her worship and prayer and aspiration becomea call which draws an answer from absolute Destiny moulding our mortality.(Source: http://savitri.in/library/resources/ry-deshpande-on-savitri/birth-of-savitr)www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 4

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. October 2017. The Mother says… On Spiritual Birth Birth into the true consciousness, that of the Divine Presence in us.What is called “new birth” is the birth into the spiritual life, the spiritual consciousness; it is to carryin oneself something of the spirit which, individually, through the soul, can begin to rule the life andbe the master of existence. But in the supramental world, the spirit will be the master of this entireworld and all its manifestations, all its expressions, consciously, spontaneously, naturally.In the individual existence, that is what makes all the difference; so long as one just speaks of thespirit and it is something one has read about, whose existence one vaguely knows about, but not avery concrete reality for the consciousness, this means that one is not born into the spirit. And whenone is born into the spirit, it becomes something much more concrete, much more living, much morereal, much more tangible than the whole material world. And this is what makes the essentialdifference between beings. When that becomes spontaneously real—the true, concrete existence,the atmosphere one can freely breathe—then one knows one has crossed over to the other side. Butso long as it is something rather vague and hazy—you have heard about it, you know that it exists,but… it has no concrete reality—well, this means that the new birth has not yet taken place. As longas you tell yourself, “Yes, this I can see, this I can touch, the pain I suffer from, the hunger thattorments me, the sleep that makes me feel heavy, this is real, this is concrete…” (Mother laughs),that means that you have not yet crossed over to the other side, you are not born into the spirit. (Silence)In fact, the vast majority of men are like prisoners with all the doors and windows closed, so theysuffocate, which is quite natural. But they have with them the key that opens the doors and windows,and they do not use it…. Certainly there is a time when they don’t know they have the key, but longafter they have come to know it, long after they have been told about it, they hesitate to use it anddoubt whether it has the power to open the doors and windows or even that it is a good thing to openthem! And even when they feel that “after all, it might be good”, there remains some fear: “Whatwill happen when these doors and windows are opened?…” and they are afraid. They are afraid ofbeing lost in that light and freedom. They want to remain what they call “themselves”. They liketheir falsehood and their bondage. Something in them likes it and goes on clinging to it. They stillhave the impression that without their limits they would no longer exist.That is why the journey is so long, that is why it is difficult. For if one truly consented to cease toexist, everything would become so easy, so swift, so luminous, so joyful—but perhaps not in theway men understand joy and ease. In truth, there are very few people who do not enjoy fighting.There are very few who could accept the absence of night, few can conceive of light except as theopposite of darkness: “Without shadows there would be no picture. Without struggle, there wouldbe no victory. Without suffering there would be no joy.” That is what they think, and so long as onethinks in this way, one is not yet born into the spirit.(CWM, Volume 04, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry) August – September Sunday Activities at the Centre - A glimpseAugust 20th – Savitri with Mother’s Voice and Music animating Huta PaintingsWe tried a novel method this month taking inspiration from the Mother’s explanation of ‘Self-dynamising Meditation’ we read on the August 13th. This was on Pages 88-89 randomly chosen byKrishnamurthy uncle from the Mother Q&A book. Please refer to our August Newsletter for thesummary of this discussion.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 5

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. October 2017.“… Everyone has his own mode of meditation. But if one wants the meditation to be dynamic, one musthave an aspiration for progress and the meditation must be done to help and fulfil this aspiration forprogress. Then it becomes dynamic” Mother Q&A 1956Our deeper view of the painting also helped us to relate to the chapters two and three of Life Divine onthe two negations, namely ‘The Materialist Denial’ and ‘The Refusal of the Ascetic’. We also observedthe easier golden pathway of Psychic Being’s consciousness-force built for our accelerated progress.After the horizontal exploration of the Picture 4, we looked at the preceding three pictures. Mother hascarefully chosen these passages with Picture 1 representing the Transcendental view, Picture 2 theCosmic View, Picture 3 the showering of love to all by Savitri, the Divine Flame incarnate, showing usthe easier path for accelerated progress and the Picture 4 depicting our current confused state of affairs– “Hugging the bonds close of which they most complained, Murmured at a yoke they would have weptto lose”. It was a profound eye opening experience.We were also able to relate the Transcendental View (Picture 1) to the cosmos seed referred to in Book3 on Divine Mother, Canto 3, Picture 1:The great world-rhythms were heart-beats of one Soul,To feel was a flame-discovery of God,All mind was a single harp of many strings,All life a song of many meeting lives;For worlds were many, but the Self was one.This knowledge now was made a cosmos’ seed:This seed was cased in the safety of the Light,It needed not a sheath of IgnoranceKiran Sule displayed his usual eloquence by recalling related passages from Book 1 Canto 2 “The Issue”and Canto 4 “The Secret Knowledge” enhancing our understanding.Going deeper inside from the limiting surface view, we are able to appreciate the subtle and causal linksas elaborated above; It was a divine delight to feel the flame discovery – the very topic Jared stared with;it is not a coincidence but divine grace that brought to our eyes Mother’s answer to our central idea of‘self-dynamising meditation’ though it seemed to be by chance; similarly, we were guided into ‘the heartof the flame of Savitri’ as well – into the ‘Growth of the Flame’ canto - again the very topic we wereexploring. This way we can elaborate on the divine connections between the other seemingly randomevents of the month.Finally, we dwelt on the most important aspect of ‘progress and transformation’ Mother has emphasizedas the core of self-dynamising meditation – our life journey is a Yoga; we need not leave everything tothe mercy of circumstances, fate and necessity; in the book ‘On Education’, Mother guides us on • Concentration, • Broadening our outlook, • Appreciating even views contrary to our own, • Refining as well as aligning our aspirations to a central idea • Utilizing our experiences to guide the journey supporting our central ideas • Silencing our mind to overcome the limitations of our dividing mindThe choices visible to us, our decisions and our actions make up our life journey. Often we are limitedand unduly influenced by our physical, vital and mental egos. Mother reminds us that our aspirationsand supporting attitudes are the top two influencers we need to groom with care. Instead of attitudesdriving our life journey based on chance, circumstances and fate, we can consciously utilize attitudes asvaluable ‘life force directing switches’ for our progress and transformation. The stronger our aspirations,the better we will be able to move away from our current state of being driven by our ignorant ‘forceswww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 6

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. October 2017.of Becoming’ - thus enabling our soul force to take charge of our life journey – not through nirvana butthrough our ‘Being of Becoming’ (Psychic Being). Let us fondly recall the deep messages in theMother’s dramas ‘The Great Secret’ and ‘Towards the Future’ and delight on the experience that theseare what we have tried to review through our own life experiences during this session. It is truly DivineGrace that this session has served us so well as an important learning exercise to apply to our life journey– going deeper inside and viewing our life events beyond the surface with a supportive dynamic attitudefor our progress and transformation.August 27th – Rig Veda and Savitri: Usha – The Dawn: After exploring Agni for two weeks, wemoved on to Usha, The Dawn, taking up Rig Veda Mandala 1, Sukta 113 along with Savitri, Book 1,Canto 1, “The Symbol of Dawn’. Surface view of dawn blinds us to the involved hidden secrets. Subtleview reveals Usha as referring to both the eternal transcendental light reaching us as well as the involvedlight within striving to come out of the night. Going still deeper, Usha also carries with her the messageand the seed right from the all-encompassing Word OM. These three images of the Word,Transcendental Light with Seed and the involved seed within the night are highlighted by the followingthree passages:pra̱ śa̱ sti̱ kṛdbrahma̍ ṇe no̱ vyu1̱̍[o]cchā no̱ jane̍ janaya viśvavāre || Rig Veda 1.113.19 Approvingus, shine on us the Word; cherished by all, may we be born among the God-loving perfect persons –Sri Aurobindo’s translation For worlds were many, but the Self was one. This knowledge now was made a cosmos’ seed: This seed was cased in the safety of the Light, It needed not a sheath of Ignorance. Book3, Canto 3: The House of the Spirit and New Creation A spirit that is a flame of God abides, A fiery portion of the Wonderful, Artist of his own beauty and delight, Immortal in our mortal poverty. This sculptor of the forms of the Infinite, This screened unrecognised Inhabitant, Initiate of his own veiled mysteries, Hides in a small dumb seed his cosmic thought. Book1, Canto 3: The Yoga of the Soul’s ReleaseUsha takes on various forms as the Mother, Daughter of the Sun, Sister, parent of the Sun, recurringdawns and the eternal dawn. She is also the brilliant guide for happy truths impelling all living beingsto progress towards perfection. Usha is in fact Savitri herself. Below is the link to the scintillatingexplanation given by Mother for ‘The Symbol of Dawn’ canto. Meditating on this simply melts awayour understanding difficulties and paves way for deeper revelations.https://sriaurobindocenterla.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/the-symbol-dawn-2/Jared presented us with eleven instances of similarities between Usha in Rig Veda and The Symbol ofDawn. Below are some references to the message and seed in Savitri, Book 1 Canto 1: ‘The Symbol ofDawn’. A glamour from unreached transcendences Iridescent with the glory of the Unseen, A message from the unknown immortal Light Ablaze upon creation’s quivering edge, Dawn built her aura of magnificent hueswww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 7

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. October 2017. And buried its seed of grandeur in the hours. Arrived from the other side of boundlessness An eye of deity pierced through the dumb deeps; A scout in a reconnaissance from the sun, Almost that day the epiphany was disclosed Of which our thoughts and hopes are signal flares, A lonely splendour from the invisible goal Almost was flung on the opaque Inane. Once more a tread perturbed the vacant Vasts; Infinity’s centre, a Face of rapturous calm Parted the eternal lids that open heaven; A Form from far beatitudes seemed to near. Ambassadress twixt eternity and change, The omniscient Goddess leaned across the breadths That wrap the fated journeyings of the stars And saw the spaces ready for her feet.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 8

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. October 2017.September 10th and 17th – Rig Veda: The Doctrine of the MysticsAfter exploring the close links of Agni and Usha in Rig Veda and Savitri, we moved on to tasting SriAurobindo’s Doctrine of the Mystics. In fact, we had already provided a link to this in our July NewsLetter encouraging everyone to enjoy the taste of Sri Aurobindo’s refreshing eye opener on the Vedas.“The Veda possesses the high spiritual substance of the Upanishads, but lacks their phraseology; it isan inspired knowledge as yet insufficiently equipped with intellectual and philosophical terms. We finda language of poets and illuminates to whom all experience is real, vivid, sensible, even concrete, notyet of thinkers and systematisers to whom the realities of the mind and soul have become abstractions.Yet a system, a doctrine there is; but its structure is supple, its terms are concrete, the cast of its thoughtis practical and experimental, but in the accomplished type of an old and sure experience, not of onethat is crude and uncertain because yet in the making.Here we have the ancient psychological science and the art of spiritual living of which the Upanishadsare the philosophical outcome and modification and Vedanta, Sankhya and Yoga the late intellectualresult and logical dogma. But like all life, like all science that is still vital, it is free from the armouredrigidities of the reasoning intellect; in spite of its established symbols and sacred formulae it is stilllarge, free, flexible, fluid, supple and subtle. It has the movement of life and the large breath of the soul.And while the later philosophies are books of Knowledge and make liberation the one supreme good,the Veda is a Book of Works and the hope for which it spurns our present bonds and littleness isperfection, self-achievement, immortality.The doctrine of the Mystics recognises an Unknowable, Timeless and Unnameable behind and above allthings and not sizable by the studious pursuit of the mind. Impersonally, it is That, the One Existence;to the pursuit of our personality it reveals itself out of the secrecy of things as the God or Deva, --nameless though he has many names, immeasurable and beyond description, though he holds in himselfall description of name and knowledge and all measures of form and substance, force and activity.The Deva or Godhead is both the original cause and the final result. Divine Existent, builder of theworlds, lord and begetter of all things, Male and Female, Being and Consciousness, Father and Motherof the Worlds and their inhabitants, he is also their Son and ours: for he is the Divine Child born intothe Worlds who manifests himself in the growth of the creature.The soul of man soars as the Bird, the Hansa, past the shining firmaments of physical and mentalconsciousness, climbs as the traveller and fighter beyond earth of body and heaven of mind by theascending path of the Truth to find this Godhead waiting for us, leaning down to us from the secrecy ofthe highest supreme where it is seated in the triple divine Principle and the source of the Beatitude. TheDeva is indeed, whether attracting and exalted there or here helpful to us in the person of the greaterGods, always the Friend and Lover of man, the pastoral Master of the Herds who gives us the sweet milkand the clarified butter from the udder of the shining Cow of the infinitude. He is the source andoutpourer of the ambrosial Wine of divine delight and we drink it drawn from the sevenfold waters ofexistence or pressed out from the luminous plant on the hill of being and uplifted by its raptures webecome immortal. Such are some of the images of this ancient mystic adoration.” Sri AurobindoSri Aurobindo goes on to describe in vivid details the significance of the symbols of Rig Veda,involution, evolution and the interleaved/interacting triplicities; our Mother Earth is specially gifted butalso burdened with the dark forces; Man has a special role to play through the triple transformation.Below is a partial extract in Sri Aurobindo’s words:“This human ascension is possible because every being really holds in himself all that his outward visionperceives as if external to him. We have subjective faculties hidden in us which correspond to all thetiers and strata of the objective cosmic system and these forms for us so many planes of our possibleexistence. This material life and our narrowly limited consciousness of the physical world are far frombeing the sole experience permitted to man, -- be he a thousand times the Son of Earth. If maternal Earthwww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 9

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. October 2017.bore him and retains him in her arms, yet is Heaven also one of his parents and has a claim on his being.It is open to him to become awake to profounder depths and higher heights within and such awakeningis his intended progress.And as he mounts thus to higher and ever higher planes of himself, new worlds open to his life and hisvision and become the field of his experience and the home of his spirit. He lives in contact and unionwith their powers and godheads and remoulds himself in their image. Each ascent is thus a new birth ofthe soul, and the Veda calls the worlds ``births'' as well as seats and dwelling-places.And this is no easy or peaceful march; it is for long seasons a fierce and relentless battle. The seekermust be a tireless toiler and traveller and a stern warrior, he must force open and storm and sack cityafter city, win kingdom after kingdom, overthrow and tread down ruthlessly enemy after enemy. Hiswhole progress is a warring of Gods and Titans, Gods and Giants, Indra and the Python, Aryan andDasyu. Aryan adversaries even he has to face in the open field; for old friends and helpers turn intoenemies.The Vedic imagery is easy to understand when once we have the key, but it must not be mistaken formere imagery. The Gods are not simply poetical personifications of abstract ideas or of psychologicaland physical functions of Nature.To the Vedic seers they are living realities; the vicissitudes of the human soul represent a cosmicstruggle not merely of principles and tendencies but of the cosmic Powers which support and embodythem. These are the Gods and the Demons. On the world-stage and in the individual soul the same realdrama with the same personages is enacted.All this action and struggle and ascension is supported by Heaven our Father and Earth our Mother,Parents of the Gods, who sustain respectively the purely mental and psychic and the physicalconsciousness.Our earth shaped out of the dark inconscient ocean of existence lifts its high formations and ascendingpeaks heavenward; heaven of mind has its own formations, clouds that give out their lightnings and theirwaters of life; the streams of the clarity and the honey ascend out of the subconscient ocean below andseek the superconscient ocean above; and from above that ocean sends downward its rivers of the lightand truth and bliss even into our physical being.Thus in images of physical Nature the Vedic poets sing the hymn of our spiritual ascension.The soul of man is a world full of beings, a kingdom in which armies clash to help or hinder a supremeconquest, a house where the gods are our guests and which the demons strive to possess; the fullness ofits energies and wideness of its being make a seat of sacrifice spread, arranged and purified for acelestial session.Such are some of the principal images of the Veda and a very brief and insufficient outline of the teachingof the Forefathers. So understood the Rig Veda ceases to be an obscure, confused and barbaroushymnal; it becomes the high-aspiring Song of Humanity; its chants are episodes of the lyrical epic of thesoul in its immortal ascension.This at least; what more there may be in the Veda of ancient science, lost knowledge, old psycho-physicaltradition remains yet to be discovered” - Ramadosswww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 10

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. October 2017. PROGRAMME FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER 2017 DATE TIME DETAILS 8:00 AM1st October 2017 Monthly Morning walk * Sunday A Memorable Moment in Human History:1st October 2017 6:00 PM The Mother meets the Master Sunday Talk by Prof. S. Mohanty3rd October 2017 7:00 PM to Sunday 8:30 PM Sri Aurobindo’s Major Works: A Bird’s eye view Talk by Prof. S. Mohanty8th October 2017 6:00 PM Sunday Thematic Study Circle Part I: ‘Doctrine of the Mystics’ from The Secret of the Veda15th October 2017 6:00 PM Sunday Thematic Study Circle Part II ‘Doctrine of the Mystics’ from The Secret of the Veda22nd October 2017 4:00 PM Sunday Youth Programme: Sri Aurobindo and Science Fiction22nd October 2017 6:00 PM Sunday Savitri – An unending Journey29th October 2017 6:00 PM Concentration and Meditation Sunday* Please see below for details. October 2017 MORNING WALK – NO. 386Date: Sunday, 1st October 2017Time: 8:00 A.M. sharp for warm up exercise.Walk Venue: Gardens by the BayMeeting Point: Bull Statue abetting the Information Counter near the Visitor Centre, Main Gate, Gardens by the Bay (Bay South), 18 Marina Gardens Drive, Singapore 018953. (Map below)Contact No: Mr S.Ramanathan (9138 5130)Directions to From East Coast Parkway (ECP) and Kallang- Paya Lebar Expresswaythe meeting (KPE) in the direction towards the city:- Continue onto Marina Coastalpoint: Expressway-> Take Exit 3 onto Central Boulevard -> Turn right into Marina Gardens Drivewww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 11

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. October 2017. From Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) in the direction towards the city: - Continue onto Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE)->Take Exit 2 onto Central Boulevard->Turn right at Marina Gardens Drive From Ophir Road- Head towards Sheares Ave->Exit onto Marina Boulevard- >Turn left to Marina Gardens Drive. Parking: Visitor Centre Basement Car Park: Located via the Main Gate MRT/Bus: Via the Circle Line or Downtown Line:- Alight at Bayfront MRT Station (CE1/DT16)->Take Exit B and follow the underground linkway->Exit and cross the Dragonfly Bridge or Meadow Bridge into Gardens by the Bay Via the North South / Circle Line:- Alight at Marina Bay MRT Station (NS27/CE2)->Take Exit B and head towards the bus stop 03531 located at Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3, Central Boulevard before Marina Way- >Hop onto bus service 400 and alight at the bus stop 03371 along Marina Gardens DriveHosts: Mr. & Mrs. Shashi Lal Kashyap, 19, Broadrick Road,RSVP: Singapore 439488.Directions to Telephone: 6344 1876 (HP 9635 3766)the Hosts’Residence [email protected] Bus Services: 12, 14,196. Nearest Bus Stop: Mount Batten Road Bus Stop Number: 91051 – Opp.Santa Fe Mans Or Bus Stop Number: 91059 - Katong Park TowersNote: 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 and join in the brunch by 10:15 AM. Prayersand meditation will commence sharp at 10.30 A.M. All are requested to be punctual.Please note that there will be a brief talk by our distinguished guest from India Dr. SachidanandaMohanty. This will be followed by a short music programme by the Kashyap family.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 12

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. October 2017.PREVIEW OF FORTHCOMING SUNDAY MORNING WALKSWALK NO DATE PLACE HOST 387 05/11/2017 Woodlands Waterfront Mr Kiranchandra Vasant Sule and Family 388 Park 3/12/2017 Coney Island Mr Ritesh Thakkar and Family Along the Way… September 2017 Walk Review (walk no 385)The beautiful September 3rd morning dawned with the two specific thoughts – a comfortable feelingthat the walk venue is not too far from home, at the calm and serene Bedok Reservoir, one amongthe 17 reservoirs in little Singapore. The second thought, of Mr. Lok and family who used to hostthe Bedok reservoir walk.On the way to the reservoir I collected a few purple coloured delicate flowers to offer at the altar.“Shankh Pushp” – Its Radha’s consciousness – symbolizes perfect attachment to the divine.Familiar faces welcomed us at the meeting point. With many families travelling the “little chirpymembers” were missed. Walk started with Mr Lok in the conversation, a person who explained themeaning Aspiration to me. He lived Mothers words in many ways.Since the 4.3 km track goes around the reservoir, one has choice to walk in the clock wise or anticlockwise direction around the reservoir. With a strong morning sun shining, the group made choicefor anti-clockwise direction, to have the sun on the back for most of the walk than have it on theface. The reservoir water had a silver sheen because of the morning Sun. Along the path, sceneschanged every few hundred metres. Many were serious runners, going around the track. Among thetall trees were koel birds throating their calls. Along the path we saw an area where various birdlovers bring their birds in cages and let them chirp together. “Are they true bird lovers?” my mindquestioned. I also wondered what these hundreds of birds were saying to each other.Among the few walking together, the conversation shifted to “Perception and its place in life” –“Same situations” which different people perceive and react differently. We climbed the moundaround the reservoir, which gives an elevated view of the entire reservoir. It was beautiful to see theKayaks and boats rowing unison which were out by now.While we all rave about reservoir parks, but many of us do not notice the beauty around where welive and work. A friend and neighbour, a hard-core bird lover, has spotted 150 species in ChangiBusiness park area which is an ecosystem by itself. I too saw a 2-inch-long sparrow, at the moundas well as a rare bird with bright colours I saw years ago at Sungai Buloh. The huge tall trees on themound gave lovely shade around. We wanted to spend the rest of the morning on the benchesgenerously spread around by NPB – National Parks Board – Like the many groups playing gamesand sharing breakfast.Venkat later mentioned to me that even among the group that he was walking with, for a while theconversation was related to perception. But more about the ill effects of giving too much importanceto it. Organisations now a days reward their employees based on feedback from customers’ whichis based on the latter’s perceptions of the products and services offered. While this is good in mostsituations, people have misused this power demanding medicines or treatment of their choice fromdoctors and given negative feedback when denied that, based on their perceptions. These have inwww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 13

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. October 2017.turn seriously impacted careers of good doctors who follow their professional judgment overpleasing their patients for positive feedback.While the group of men did the walk around the reservoir the ladies retraced the path from themound to the exercise spot. We were to transit later to the calm and serene terrace premises in Simeiof our current host Arjun Madan. The preparation for the sublime prayer and meditation and brunchplace had been in full swing.The altar was set in a simple and beautiful manner. Meaningful prayers were read after meditation.A lovely rendition of Purusha Suktam by Arjun brought out the traditional Guru Shishya relationshipbetween Arjun and Shri Krishnamoorthy.After wishing the members for birthday in the month, a sumptuous spread awaited us. Thanking thehost for a wonderful morning, we reluctantly left, awaiting the next walk at Gardens by the Bayhosted by our dear Urmil Aunty and Shashi Uncle, our Singapore Centre Chairman. Jaishree Venkat. 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 14