Widening of the Mind

April 2017 SRI AUROBINDO SOCIETY VOL 31.04 Singapore Permit No. MCI (P) 071/01/2017 NEWSLETTER Widening of the MindBotanical Name: AsteraceaeCommon Name: DahliaSpiritual Significance: Supramentalised Mental Dignity Widen yourself to the extreme limit of the universe… and beyond. Always take upon yourself all the necessities of progress, and resolve them in the ecstasy of Unity. Then you will be divine. - The Mother

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2017. Guiding Light of the Month“Extricate me from the illusory consciousness of my mind, from its world of fantasies; let me identify my consciousness with the Absolute Consciousness, for that art Thou.” The Mother, ‘Prayers and Meditations’ February 15, 1914 From the Editor’s DeskWe proceed, in this issue of the newsletter, with that we are. A conscious collaboration with a higher force may be a possibility, in this way.mental wellbeing, with a special focus on‘Widening of the Mind’. The mind is the ideating Sri Aurobindo says, “Ideas and ideals belong to theinstrument around which thoughts are formulated mind and are half-truths only; the mind too is moreand expressed or actualized through various often then not, satisfied with merely having an ideal,means. Our mind, we must have observed, “acts with the pleasure of idealizing while life alwaysaccording to hard and fast rules and standards”. In remains the same, untransformed or changed only aorder to realize this, effort is needed at self- little and mostly in appearances…To realize theobservation as one lives life. How often are we Divine Truth is always the aim, either beyond or incarried away by the mind as the rushing waters of life also – and in the latter case it is necessary toa vibrant river carry away a fragile leaf? In that transform mind and life which cannot be donespeed and force, we forget; forget to take cognizant without surrender to the action of the Divine Force,of who we are and how different parts of our being the Mother.”work and express. The mind, more over, may notbe acting sovereignly on its own conviction and It is said that the first aim in Yoga is to open the mindstrength. It may very well be playing second fiddle to a higher spiritual consciousness. “The Divineto our whims and fancies; the will, thus weakened, Consciousness acts from a light that is beyond thatcannot prevail over it to establish a certain course level of human consciousness which makes theof the events that occur. human standard of these things. It acts for and fromOur ordinary mind poses several obstacles towards a greater good than the apparent good men followperceiving a higher consciousness at work in our after…. And conceive.” The human mind thereforelives. The ordinary mind insists, with its “wrong needs to rise to a higher consciousness. Then perhapsreasonings, sentiments and judgements…. Or its a transformation is possible. How then to transformmechanical activity, the slowness of response to mind? A restless mind cannot possibly open to athe veiled or the initial touch…” The mind cannot higher spiritual consciousness; “… a quiet mind isbe an instrument of truth as is shown too by the the first need.”subjectivity of individual minds. We must have We are back at an aspiration, a self-effort and anobserved that one mind receives one thing and offering of that effort to the Divine. The school in which widening of the mind can take place is,deduces about, reacts to it or concludes about it in happily, one’s own day to day, minute to minuteone way and another mind does so in a life…” - varied, complex, full of unexpecteddiametrically opposite manner. This is because experiences, problems to be solved, clear and strikingmental activities are different and therefore make examples and obvious consequences..” A quiet,different results of the same experience. One whois inclined towards discovering the truth behind the silenced mind opens the door to receive, process andapparent, needs to, as a result, look beyond and select, while reaching out to something greater, thatabove the mind towards the sustaining substance stands beyond and above the mind.that animates allwww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 2

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2017. Savitri On a height he stood that looked towards greater heights. To these high-peaked dominions sealed to our search Too far from surface Nature’s postal routes, Too lofty for our mortal lives to breathe, Deep in us a forgotten kinship points And a faint voice of ecstasy and prayer Calls to those lucent lost immensities. (Book one, Canto four) So it towered up to heights intangible And disappeared in the hushed conscious Vast As climbs a storeyed temple-tower to heaven Built by the aspiring soul of man to live Near to his dream of the Invisible. (Book two, Canto one) God wrapped his head from sight in Matter’s cowl, His consciousness dived into inconscient depths, All-knowledge seemed a huge dark Nescience; Infinity wore a boundless zero’s form. His abysms of bliss became insensible deeps, Eternity a blank spiritual Vast. (Book ten, Canto three) Goodwill “Goodwill for all and Goodwill from all is the basis of peace and harmony” - The Mother To a space she came of soft and delicate air That seemed a sanctuary of youth and joy, A highland world of free and green delight Where spring and summer lay together and strove In indolent and amicable debate, Inarmed, disputing with laughter who should rule. - SavitriRantideva who was a king, became a hermit in the forest. He had given his wealth to the poor andlived a simple life in the solitude of the jungle. He and his family had only the bare necessities oflife.One day, after a fast of forty-eight hours, a light meal of rice with milk and sugar was prepared forhim.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 3

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2017.A poor Brahmin came up to the door of the hut and asked for food. Rantideva gave him half of hisrice. Then came a Sudra begging for help and Rantideva gave him half of what remained.Then he heard a dog barking; the poor beast seemed to be starving. Rantideva gave him what wasleft. Last of all came a Pariah who stopped at the hermit’s door and asked for help. Rantideva gavehim the milk and the sugar, and continued to fast.Then came four gods who said to him:“It was to us, Rantideva, that you gave food, for we assumed the forms of a Brahmin, a Sudra, a dogand a poor outcaste. You were good to us all and we praise you for your loving thoughts.”A kind heart treats all men and even animals as members of one family, one humanity. - The Mother(CWM, Volume 2, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry) Cheerful Mind and Heart “Keep a cheerful mind and a peaceful heart. Let nothing disturb your equanimity and make every day the necessary progress to advance with me steadily towards the goal.” - The Mother A sigh was straying among happy leaves; Savitri Cool-perfumed with slow pleasure-burdened feet Faint stumbling breezes faltered among flowers. -In the next story I shall tell you, the joyous spirit bubbles up like water from a beautiful spring. Theperson it tells of had nothing to do with the desire for custom or gain: he was the famed and gloriousRama.Rama slew Ravana the ten-headed and twenty-armed demon-king. I have already told you thebeginning of the story. It had been the most terrible of all battles. Thousands of monkeys and bearshad been killed in the service of Rama, and the corpses of their demon enemies were piled one uponanother. Their king lay lifeless on the ground. But how hard it had been to fell him! Time and againRama had cut off his ten heads and his twenty arms, but they all grew back immediately so that hehad to cut them off many times over; they were so numerous that at last it seemed as if the sky wasraining down arms and heads.When the terrible war was ended the monkeys and bears who had been slain were brought back tolife, and all stood like a great army awaiting orders.Glorious Rama whose manner remained simple and calm after the victory, looked kindly upon hisfaithful friends.Then Vibhishan, who was to succeed Ravana on the throne, had a chariot-load of jewels and richrobes brought for the warriors who had fought so valiantly.“Listen, friend Vibhishan,” said Rama, “rise high in the air and scatter your gifts before the army.”The king did as he was told, and from his chariot in mid-air strewed glittering jewels and brightlycoloured robes.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 4

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2017.The monkeys and bears tumbled over one another as they rushed to seize the falling treasures. Itwas a merry scuffle.And Rama laughed heartily and his wife, the lady Sita, and his brother Lakshman laughed with him.For those who are courageous know how to laugh like this. There is nothing more cordial than agood and hearty cheerfulness. And the word ‘cordial’ has the same origin as the word ‘courage’. Indifficult moments, the cheerfulness that comes from a cordial spirit is truly a kind of courage.Surely it is not necessary to be always laughing; but liveliness, serenity, good humour are never outof place. And how helpful they are! With them the mother makes the home happy for her children;the nurse hastens the recovery of her patient; the master lightens the task of his servants; theworkman inspires the goodwill of his comrades; the traveller helps his companions on their hardjourney; the citizen fosters hope in the hearts of his countrymen.And you, happy boys and girls, is there anything your cheerfulness cannot accomplish? - The Mother(CWM, Volume 2, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry) Wisdom in the Physical Mind A first step towards the Supramental manifestation upon earth. - The Mother Leaving earth’s safety daring wings of Mind Bore her above the trodden fields of thought Crossing the mystic seas of the Beyond To live on eagle heights near to the Sun. There wisdom sits on her eternal throne. - SavitriThe Japanese have a picturesque way of expressing their idea of prudence.They have in one of their temples an image of a meditating Buddha seated on a lotus-blossom. Infront of him are three little monkeys, one with its hands over its eyes, another over its ears, and thethird covering its mouth. What do these three monkeys signify? By its gesture the first one says:“I do not see evil and folly.”The second one says:“I do not hear them.”And the third:“I do not speak them.”In the same way, the wise man is prudent in what he looks at, in what he listens to, and in what hesays.He considers the consequences, thinks of the morrow, and if he does not know his way, he asks. - The Mother(CMW, Volume 2, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry)www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 5

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2017. One shall descend and break the iron Law The Mother’s final arrival at Pondicherry, 24th April 1920 One shall descend and break the iron Law, - Savitri Change Nature’s doom by the lone Spirit’s power. And in her body as on his homing tree Immortal Love shall beat his glorious wings She shall bear Wisdom in her voiceless bosom, Strength shall be with her like a conqueror’s sword And from her eyes the Eternal’s bliss shall gaze. A seed shall be sown in Death’s tremendous hour, A branch of heaven transplant to human soil; Nature shall overleap her mortal step; Fate shall be changed by an unchanging will.That call must haunt those who had heard it once, and Mirra of course had come to Pondicherry in1914 even without that particular call, and instantaneously recognised in Sri Aurobindo \"the Lordof my being and my God\"; and now, after an absence of five years in France and Japan, she wascoming back to Pondicherry. She was leaving behind in Japan her good friends - the Kobayashis,the Okhawas, and others - and Japan meant the kindliest memories. But the boat was carrying hertowards the shores of India, and she was sublimely content. And on 24 April 1920, the boatapproached the shores of Pondicherry. As she was to recall her experience thirty years later:“I was on the boat, at sea, not expecting anything (I was of course busy with the inner life, but I wasliving physically on the boat), when all of a sudden, abruptly, about two nautical miles fromPondicherry, the quality, I may even say the physical quality of the atmosphere, of the air, changedso much that I knew we were entering the aura of Sri Aurobindo. It was a physical experience.”Again, returning to the subject two days later:... in the experience I was speaking about, what gave it all its value was that I was not expecting itat all, not at all. I knew very well, I had been for a very long time and continuously in \"spiritual\"contact, if I may say so, with the atmosphere of Sri Aurobindo, but I had never thought of thewww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 6

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2017.possibility of a modification in the physical air and I was not expecting it in the least, and it was thisthat gave the whole value to the experience, which came like that, quite suddenly, just as when oneenters a place with another temperature or another altitude.(“On the Mother”, Chapter 14, K.R.Srinivasa Iyengar, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry) On a song of treasuresThe sun has arisen from the bosom of darkness,The light has spilled over earthAnd the space is filled with an energyAwakening lovely flowers, sweet birds and noble people.In a little spiritual land at southern India,A young sage, wise and spirited,Blossoms his eyes to the touches of fresh light,A day is in his hands, a blank page,Looking forward to new experiences,He brightens up to write the song for the dayTo create treasures that will live on through ages.Bhavathi Bikshandhehi, Bhavathi Bikshandhehi,Reverberates his sweet voice through the streets of the town.His seer’s eyes capture a rickety old hutAnd he stops by, asking for alms, enlivening the spaces.The door of the hut creaks open, slowly and carefully,Walks out an old woman, very poor, very noble.“Greetings! O Sage. We are blessed to have your presence.Poor and old we are though, and do not have anything to give you”Speaks the woman to the sage, humbly, in a gentle voice.“Perhaps, there must be something, something very little,Little that you can offer this young sage” is the sage’s response,His heart brimming with blessings for the poor woman.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 7

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2017.The old woman walks in for a search,Searches her old small hut,And she spots a mellow little amla fruit at one corner.Mustering a lot of courage, full of reverence,She places the little fruit in the hands of the sage.“Forgive me for it is old and too small,But this is all we have”.The sage is pleased with her offering.A beautiful song he sings, a song of Sanskrit verses.Living in the song, Goddess Lakshmi.Delighted by the young sage’s praise,She appears before him in all splendor and glory.“O living symbol of my Light,what is it that you need?”“Poor is the woman, but her heart, a glory of diamonds.Grant, Goddess, that the woman be filled with riches,And she has a lot more to give to all”There comes a shower of gold and rubiesAnd the Generosity of the wise woman’s heart,Converts her into a woman of riches.The song of Sanskrit verses is revered as Kanakadhaara stotram, SandhyaAnd the young sage, Adi Shankara.References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanakadh%C4%81ra_Stotra%E1%B9%83 I'll cherish that moment without having to interpret what it means or why I was blessed to have it.For the first time I travelled to India at the end 2016, leaving Northern California barely in time toreach India to celebrate my sixty-seventh birthday on December 31st. I travelled to India primarilyto visit two dear, dear friends, Sudha and Surendra Rangnath.Surendra worked with my now long deceased husband for a couple years in the mid-1980s in Newwww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 8

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2017.York State. The two guys bonded quickly in part because they were so alike in temperament andoutlook, and also because life events, like flooding basements, provided opportunities for seriousengineering collaboration. The two of them are/were long, lanky, serious thinking types albeit withreally fun sides. Sudha and I also experienced a particular kinship, with especially fun interesting“getting to know you” times as I taught her how to drive. Have you ever seen a proper Hindu,Brahmin, vegetarian, calm lady hunting for a parking spot in New York? It’s a pleasure to see the“hunter” come out? We feel as if we were sisters in some other time.Years have passed. The Ranganaths spent time in Singapore raising their children, and my husbandand I built a life in Palo Alto, California. Yes, Silicon Valley. We’ve visited intermittently, albeitnot frequently, but whenever we get back together it always feels as if we’ve only been apart for afew moments, perhaps a couple of weeks. There’s that degree of connection.I relate all this history, because frankly I am profoundly perplexed by my experience during the twoweeks of my stay in India. I experienced a deep sense of familiarity, and an extremely rapidadaptation to what could be perceived as “exotic” and “alien”. Just to take the most mundane: oxencarts, heavily loaded tractors conveying hay, scooters with five family members assembled on amachine meant for one, buses racing to compete for passengers, trucks of all sizes driving as if theywere compacts, passenger vehicles with horns blaring, pedestrians risking life and limb, stray dogsand other creatures attempting to cross thoroughfares…… all co-existing. A cacophony unknownto me became quickly a delight of wondrous coordination, as did groups of brightly clad spiritualpilgrims, and other serious seekers seeming to envelope entire complexes and city streets, engagingin all manner of daily living.Against the backdrop of India’s chaotic, colourful and vibrant splendour, my experience inPondicherry and Auroville was an oasis of calm. I hesitate to make comparisons or even to commentabout differences, because my experience was so unique, being in the care and consideration of theRanganaths who organized our plans and shepherded me with care and watchfulness. However, thatsaid, I have to wonder whether some of Pondicherry and Auroville’s charm and allure might notwell be this touch of calm in the midst of India’s cacophony and pulsing spirituality.Our time in Pondicherry was almost entirely spent in the French section, a “familiar” geometricallyorganized space, with an orderly ashram dining room, and the resplendent quiet calm of the ashramcomplex. This calm sanctum was in counterpoint to the pulsing, at times heated sanctums of Shiva,Vishnu, Ganesh, to name a few. Not more, not less, but different.Auroville and the Matrimandir afford, and facilitate, an interiorized reflective stance that contraststo the expansive and exuberant experience created in the Hindu temples, at least to my Western eye.Particularly while sitting by the Lotus Pond with other novice Auroville visitors (9 rows of 24petals/lotus with water running over and down them, a meditative focus) I thought of the letting goof habit, the washing away of past pains. I felt a calm and connectedness to the experience, sittingthere with other “pilgrims” as we waited to enter the inner sanctum. A connectedness I didn’tnecessarily, perhaps couldn’t, feel with the reddish-orange clad pilgrims I’d met at Mahabalipuram.And, this is one of the wonderings I’m continuing to have now, at home in Silicon Valley. I couldmost easily “understand” the peaceful time in silence at the Lotus Pond and in the Matrimandir, andappreciate it within my own mental context. And, yet, certain moments within the Hindu temples,as in the presence of the reclining Vishnu in Mahabalipuram, not in the “tourist” shore temple butin the less pristine central temple, or in the heated Parvathi side temple in the Bhrihadisvara complexin Tanjore, were extremely vital and intense. There appears to be some pulsing vital spiritual naturein India (about which I’m reading now that I’m home) that insinuates through one’s “normalizing”defences if one allows.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 9

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2017. To visit and touch this “pulsing” nature is tricky. How to “touch it”? Where to touch it? What to make of having touched it, Is hard. Near to my front door hangs a collage I made with sayings embossed on some of my sketches and drawings. One of these sayings seems to speak to my experience in India, and in Pondicherry and Auroville especially: There is an invisible world out there and we are living in it. I feel as if I touched different parts of that “invisible” world in each of the places I visited in India. Each gave me a tiny window on the country and the people. And as the wise men and the elephant, I’m not sure I can cobble together a coherent whole. The depth of peace I felt in Pondy looking out of my ashram hotel window at the dawn over the Bay of Bengal is a blessed moment. I’llcherish that moment without having to interpret what it means or why I was blessed to have it. - Judith StewartJudith Stewart is a clinical psychologist and art museum docent living in Northern California. Sherelishes traveling, learning about unfamiliar cultures and lands, and meeting people from aroundthe world. it is with gratitude that she embraces opportunities to write about her reflections andexperiences---while traveling, in her work, and on museum tours with adults and school children. February – March Sunday Activities at the Centre - A glimpseFebruary 19th – Study of Secrets of the Veda:This was conducted to consolidate our understanding on some of the critical topics as below:The central conception of the Veda: • Conquest of the Truth out of the darkness of Ignorance & falsehood. • Converting a divided & limited being into higher Consciousness and Bliss. • Vedic Ritam is a spiritual as well as a psychological conception. Who are the Gods to be invoked and sacrifices offered ?:(taken from Sri Aurobindo’s book ‘ Hymns to the Mystic Fire’ Pages 26 to 30)There are 4 primary Gods – Agni, Indra, Surya & Soma and their deputies such as Vayu,Ashwins, Saraswati, Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Viswedevas etc.,Difference between Gods & Demons:Gods are children of Aditi – Infinity & Light, help increase the Truth in human beings and preventattacks from hostile forces.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 10

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2017.Demons are children of Diti – They are dark forces - Powers of division & limitation, also namedas Dasyus, Vritras, Panis Vala etc.,Vedic Symbolism:For example: ‘Gritha’ (Clarified butter) represents knowledge , ‘go’ (Cow) represents – Ray of Light or Light ‘Ashwa’ (Horse) – represents Force, Power & Strength ‘ Adri’ (Hill) – represents Ignorance or inconscienceFebruary 21st – Mother’s 139th birth anniversary:Evening Programme started at 7:00 PMMeditation with Sunil’s MusicReadings from The Mother’s ‘Prayers and Meditations’Reading of Darshan Message from Sri Aurobindo Ashram, PuthucherryWelcome Address by the ChairmanDevotional Music Offering by Ms Sushma SomasekharanClosing MeditationMahaprasadIt is always a joy to be part of the Mother’s Birth Anniversary celebration.The arrangement of flowers at Mother’s and Sri Aurobindo’s altar was enough to capture our heartsand our spirits glow! The meditation music and the prayers brought so much calmness in the mind.Our dear chairman Sri Kashyapji spoke much lovingly about our Centre and the members’contribution in various ways. Ms Sushma’s rendering of the devotional music on the Divine Motherwas so melodious and soaked us in the delight of the devotion!Like the beautiful flowers of different colours and fragrance suddenly bloom in the garden of MotherNature in the early morning, the variety of delightful dishes bloomed on the buffet table offered byour lovely and loving friends!Darshan Day Message: “ The Grace is always with you, concentrate in your heart with a silent mind,and you are sure to receive the guidance and help you aspire for” - The MotherFebruary 26th – Savitri, An unending Journey – Book 2:(The Traveller of the Worlds) - Canto 3 – The Glory and Fall of Life (pictures 1 to 7)Mr Ramadoss facilitated the video session on the Meditations on Savitri, where Mother reads certainpassages from Savitri with Huta’s paintings as the backdrop.Picture 1: The course of Life even in her own world is set under certain conditions inherent in thecreation of that plane of existence. There is a large freedom of movement and effectuation but it isgoverned by the operations of a Time-rhythm relevant to its order of existence. Time andCircumstance walk together!www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 11

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2017.Picture 2: Human imagination just looks for unending and uninhibited satisfaction of vital desiresand passions, not knowing the diviner quality of joy, a celestial nature free and limitless andextending towards receding limits.Picture 3: That in the above domains of deathless Light,luminous soothing belts of peace, flowingseas of joy, sunlit realms, where grief is not, that vouchsafe themselves to the grasp of man’sconsciousness for however brief a moment. Such an experience can impress itself on man and forma permanent part of his consciousness or leave a memory which comes alive at will. What is onceso experienced can always be called back in recollection and relived in a subtle way. They are theKingdoms of Beatitude!Picture 4: These regions of the Life-world are fields for the play of an untrammelled Life force.There is here a purity, a brightness of the spirit that renders all movement delightful uninterruptedby flaws and twists!Pictures 5-7: Goes back to the primitive beginnings of the earth-creation, there was no life, no mind,no sense. All was dead matter.Slowly there gathered an urge within for movement, for expression and the original harmony wasdisturbed. There was an awakening and a call went forth to Life to descend from her native planeabove and activate the myriad forms into movement. Life heard the call and invaded the materialkingdom in order to fill it with all her joy and power.There was a wider movement of joy and happiness and the glory of Life thrilled in the swiftness ofthe beauty of beasts. It became possible for man to appear and front the world with his thought andsoul.But before Life could establish her full sway a dark Power of Nescience cast its shadow on the souland imposed a purposeful ordeal on the Spirit that was manifesting through its Life-Power. Lifeunderwent an arrestation of her dynamisms, a diminution and deformation of her natural beauty andbliss. Her immortality got veiled and in her constricted movement, desire and struggle afflicted Life.Life turned into a purveyor of Death.Source: Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo.March 5th - Reading from AIM Magazine:Read a few passages from January 2017 issue of AIM, The Path of AgniRishis of the Vedas: The Vedic Rishis were men of great spiritual and occult knowledge and onlytheir descendants were given the initiation of their knowledge and not the ordinary human beings.The Mantras were given to the Vedic rishis by the hidden planes of consciousness and contained thesecret knowledge.The Seer –poets: Our greatest Seer-poets like Vishvamtra, Vamadeva, Dirghatamas and many otherstouch the most extraordinary heights and amplitudes of a sublime and mystic poetry and for examplepoems like the Hymn of Creation move in a powerful clarity on the summits of thought on whichthe Upanishads lived constantly with a more sustained breathing!www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 12

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2017.The Veda-Mantras: What the Vedic poets meant by Mantra were an inspired and revealed seeingand vision thinking attended by a realisation. It was the innermost truth of God and self and manand nature, it was a thinking that came on the wings of a great soul rhythm, Chandas.March 12th- Read a passage from Questions and Answers, 1956 The Mother. Volume 818 July 1956.Mother talks about the Divine Love which is obscured by ignorance and our mind cannot seize theecstasy of the heart and passion of the pure and sublimated sense and the attraction which is the callof the divine flute player.Lord Krishna is the immanent and universal Divine who is the supreme power of attraction and soulthe psychic personality, called here Radha. Just like Radha answers to the call of Divine flute player,we can for sure find divine Ananda in all things around us immaterial of whether it is just grass oran animal or the human beings, by seeing the one divine presence and a complete self giving to thatPresence.We can enjoy the perpetual ecstasy getting closer the divine in us! - Jayalakshmi PROGRAMME FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL 2017DATE TIME DETAILS2nd April 2017 8:00 AM Monthly Morning Walk* Sunday2nd April 2017 Reading from AIM Magazine Sunday 6:00 PM Q & A from Mothers Complete Works Vol 89th April 2017 6:00 PM Sunday Secret of the Vedas16th April 2017 Sunday 6:00 PM Savitri – An unending Journey The Mother's final arrival in Pondicherry23rd April 2017 6:00 PM Sunday Darshan Day24th April 2017 TBA Monday 7:00 PM30th April 2017 6:00 PM Sunday* Please see below for details.Date: APRIL 2017 MORNING WALK – NO. 380Time: Sunday, 2nd April 2017 8:00 A.M. sharp for warm up exercisewww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 13

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2017.Walk Venue: Bishan Ang Mo Kio ParkMeeting Point: Car Park no: BIBE 16 which is along Sin Ming Avenue (please see map below)Contact No: Mr S.Ramanathan (9138 5130)Hosts: Mr. and Mrs. Krishnamurthy Block 105, Jalan Rajah, # 06-85, Singapore 320105. Tel: 62557907 (RSVP HP: 8453 2656, 8210 2656)Directions to Driving:Host’s Approach 1: Thomson Road-Balestiar Road- Turn Left before SPC Petrolresidence: Station to Jalan Rajah Road. Land mark: Next to GIIS School (Balestier Branch) Approach 2: CTE to Ang Mo Kio from City-Exit at JalanBahagia-Kim Keat Road - Turn right into Jalan Rajah Road. Land Mark: Opp. to Curtin University or Next to GIIS School (Balestier Branch) By MRT/Bus: SBS Transit 139 and Bus no: 129RSVP HP: 8453 2656, 8210 2656Note: All are encouraged to attend the Walk. Those, however, who are not able to join the Walk, thehosts would be very happy that they directly come and join in the brunch by 10:15 AM. Prayers andmeditation will commence sharp at 10.30 A.M. All are requested to be punctual.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 14

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2017. PREVIEW OF FORTHCOMING SUNDAY MORNING WALKSWALK DATE PLACE HOST NO. 381 07/05/2017 East Coast Park Mr Ashok Patel and Family 382 04/06/2017 East Coast Park Mr Anand Patel and Family 02/07/2017 Pasir Ris Park Mr Sanjay Mehta and Family 383 06/08/2017 Macritchie Reservoir 03/09/2017 Mr K.V. Rao and Family 384 TBA Mr. Arjun Madan 385 Along the Way… March 2017 Walk ReviewThis was not my first monthly walk organised by the Singapore Centre but it was my first one withAnushna my darling granddaughter! Shailaja was kind to have driven us to the venue. Once wecommenced the walk, I was wondering how long Auropriya my daughter would last holdingAnushna in her baby carrier but we happily sauntered on for 45 minutes one way. Anushna loved itas she enjoys the outdoors and was delighted to gaze at Nature and see the birds in the cages whilereturning.It is always such a pleasure to join in the monthly walks in Singapore as the locales are one betterthan the other; at least to me as I do not reside here.This time the site selected was Bedok Reservoir. To walk along its waters on one side and the greenlawns on the other was a rare treat for me and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Mr Ramanathan alongwith ten others took a full circle around it.After this invigorating walk, we made our way to Sheetal and Anand Venkat’s home, our hosts forthe brunch. We started with a meditation followed by prayers. This was well attended and to say theleast the spread was delicious. – a favourite destination for brunch for many. Sheetal graciouslyordered a cake to our luck as it was her son’s birthday in March which coincided with Anushna’sbirthday end of the week. It was a joyous occasion and celebrating it with the Ashram family waseven more so. As this centre brunch coincided with the Executive Committee meeting, we stayedfor a bit longer in the host’s house and Anushna was no short of entertaining everyone.I am sure I will be making many more visits to Singapore in the future and look forward to creatingmore fond memories with my granddaughter. - Mrs. Chhalamayi Reddy 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 15