SAS December 2017 Newsletter

December 2017 SRI AUROBINDO SOCIETY VOL 31.12 Singapore Permit No. MCI (P) 071/01/2017 NEWSLETTER Listening to Krishna’s call Venture through the deep world to find thy mate.Botanical Name: Operculina TurpethumCommon Name: Wooden RoseSpiritual Significance: Call of the Divine’s Grace Then shall you grow like vibrant kindred harps, One in the beats of difference and delight, Responsive in divine and equal strains, Discovering new notes of the eternal theme. - Savitri, Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017. Guiding Light of the MonthOne must be always vigilant, attentive to the least call, so as not to beasleep or inert when Thou givest the signal for action, whether with the mind, the feelings or the body; The Mother, ‘Prayers and Meditations’ June 25, 1914 From the Editor’s DeskIn this December issue of the newsletter, we focus Than One who burns within thy bosom’s powers. There shall draw near to meet thy approaching stepson The Call, drawing inspiration from The Call to The second self for whom thy nature asks,the Quest, of Part 2, Book Four, Canto 3, in Savitri He who shall walk until thy body’s endby Sri Aurobindo. The significance of this canto A close-bound traveller pacing with thy pace,in the entire epic poem is that, therein was the, The lyrist of thy soul’s most intimate chords“seed of all the thing to be.” In this canto, the stage Who shall give voice to what in thee is mute.is set for the call to plunge itself from Divinity’sheights and make itself express upon Earth’s Thus began, through The Call, the unfolding ofbosom. Savitri’s future and fate was sealed one Savitri’s predestined path towards the fulfillment ofauspicious moment through a message from the God’s due to man. It is hoped that the compilations inheights that reached her inner spaces through this issue would prompt and encourage us toAswapathy who served as a medium fit enough to contemplate on what such a call means to each of us. A call may be alluring. It pulls us in a certainreceive the deep yearning of Earth’s call: direction, usually effortlessly. One can associate withHe heard the voice repressed of unborn Powers the call of the luring tunes from a flute soulfullyMurmuring behind the luminous bars of Time. played. One can associate with the sweet call of aAgain the mighty yearning raised its flame child or a friend or any loved one. One may answer toThat asks a perfect life on earth for men the call of the vital for its own satisfaction, or evenAnd prays for certainty in the uncertain mind the physical and mental. What kind of calls guides ourAnd shadowless bliss for suffering human hearts lives or controls it? What are the various qualities ofAnd Truth embodied in an ignorant worldAnd godhead divinising mortal forms. the calls we experience in our lives? Is everything with a voice a call or do we term ‘a call’ to that whichAs soon as the voice receded, “traversing the comes from higher, purer realms; a call that does notechoing passages of his brain and left its stamp on put the least selfish demand on us and on the contrary,the recording cells” Savitri came before him, “like resounds with the purity of selflessness, of self-a shining answer from the gods” to the call of offering, self-consecration or devotion, a call thatEarth. He sounds the adesh to Savitri, conveys seals our destinies forever and puts us on a path thatwords that seemed to form upon his lips from we know is ours and the pursuit of which is our soleanother sphere not ours, “spoke in sentences from business in life?the unseen Heights” that would change Savitri’s What is the call that one would like to answer,life forever. Aswapthy addresses Savitri: unreservedly, without compromise? It is perhaps timeDepart where love and destiny call your charm. to contemplate on this especially at a time when weVenture through the deep world to find thy mate. are preparing to observe the 67th Mahasamadhi day ofFor somewhere on the longing breast of earth, Sri Aurobindo – the one “who hast done so much for us,Thy unknown lover waits for thee the unknown.Thy soul has strength and needs no other guide who hast worked, struggled, suffered, hoped, endured so much, …… who hast willed all, attempted all, prepared, achieved all for us…”www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 2

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017. Savitri, a journey of Love and Light Yet shall the godhead grow within your hearts, You shall awake into the spirit’s air And feel the breaking walls of mortal mind And hear the message which left life’s heart dumb And look through Nature with sun-gazing lids And blow your conch-shells at the Eternal’s gate. (Savitri, Book four, Canto three)(Meditations on Savitri, by Huta, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry)www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 3

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017. A pilgrim hand lifts in an invisible shrine Away from the terrestrial murmur turned Where transient calls and answers mix their flood, King Aswapathy listened through the ray To other sounds than meet the sense-formed ear. On a subtle interspace which rings our life Unlocked were the inner spirit’s trance-closed doors: The inaudible strain in Nature could be caught; Across this cyclic tramp of eager lives, Across the deep urgency of present cares, Earth’s wordless hymn to the Ineffable Arose from the ardent heart of the cosmic Void; He heard the voice repressed of unborn Powers Murmuring behind the luminous bars of Time.It will be seen from what has been set forth in the earlier chapters that, on the one hand, Mirra wasreaching the end of the Japanese interlude, having arrived at a new poise of purposive purity and serenityand puissance; and, on the other hand, Sri Aurobindo was approaching the end of the great Arya phaseof his career, \"tying up his bundle ... teeming with the catch of the Infinite\", awaiting the right time toopen it and call into existence his Deva Sangha. He had a few ardent young men with him, Nolini,Amrita, Moni, Bejoy Nag. But the Deva Sangha, the Ashram, was yet to be born. The Arya itself wasmagisterially drawing towards its preordained end. The major sequences had been concluded, and oneor two were well on their way to a rounded close. Sri Aurobindo's Yoga had won phenomenal victoriesduring the decade then ending, and the uplifting message of the Life Divine had been broadcast throughthe pages of the Arya. A greater destiny waits you in your front: This transient earthly being if he wills Can fit his acts to a transcendent scheme. He who now stares at the world with ignorant eyes Hardly from the Inconscient’s night aroused, That look at images and not at Truth Can fill those orbs with an immortal’s sight.The Yoga was now poised for a new leap, for a new and decisive of phase action and manifoldrealisation. Everything was ready: the room, the lamp, the oil, the wick - and it only needed somebodydivinely . appointed for the task to arrive upon the scene, strike the match, light the lamp and throw openthe illumined chamber for the reception and initiation of the first of the new race, those that Mirra haddescribed in 1912 as \"the race of the sons of God\" or the elect of Sri Aurobindo's Deva Sangha. That'somebody' who came to Sri Aurobindo's aid was of course Mirra, the Mother. As Sri Aurobindo wrotein 1935, \"the Sadhana and the work were waiting for the Mother's coming\".1 Anilbaran Roy has recordedSri Aurobindo telling a group of disciples in 1926:When I came to Pondicherry, a programme was dictated to me from within for my sadhana. I followedit and progressed for myself but could not do much by way of helping others. Then came the Mother andwith her help I found the necessary method. But like a shining answer from the gods Approached through sun-bright spaces Savitri.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 4

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017. Advancing amid tall heaven-pillaring trees, Apparelled in her flickering-coloured robe, She seemed burning towards the eternal realms A bright moved torch of incense and of flame That from the sky-roofed temple-soil of earth A pilgrim hand lifts in an invisible shrine.There is a divinity indeed that shapes our ends, and answering its veiled dictates, Mirra and Paul Richardas also Dorothy Hodgson finally decided to leave Japan for Pondicherry in the early months of 1920.For Mirra, the four years in Japan had on the whole been a period of quietude and sadhana, a time forperfection in minutiae, a season for the cultivation of the integral as well as the miniature; in a word, theJapanese interim had proved a sanctuary and phoenix-hour for the whole tapasya of a Mahasaraswati.That call must haunt those who had heard it once, and Mirra of course had come to Pondicherry in 1914even without that particular call, and instantaneously recognised in Sri Aurobindo \"the Lord of my beingand my God\"; and now, after an absence of five years in France and Japan, she was coming back toPondicherry. She was leaving behind in Japan her good friends - the Kobayashis, the Okhawas, andothers - and Japan meant the kindliest memories. But the boat was carrying her towards the shores ofIndia, and she was sublimely content. And on 24 April 1920, the boat approached the shores ofPondicherry. 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 was livingphysically on the boat), when all of a sudden, abruptly, about two nautical miles from Pondicherry, thequality, I may even say the physical quality of the atmosphere, of the air, changed so much that I knewwe were entering the aura of Sri Aurobindo. It was a physical experience. O living inscription of the beauty of love Missalled in aureate virginity, What message of heavenly strength and bliss in thee Is written with the Eternal’s sun-white script, One shall discover and greaten with it his life To whom thou loosenest thy heart’s jewelled strings.On an evening in Christmas week 1920, a new visitor, T. Kodandarama Rao, happening to see Mirra,found her at the very first sight a \"serene, sweet and beautiful divine personality\"; and after a stay of afew days in 1921, he concluded that she was verily \"a personification of 'Grace' \", and whenever heapproached her, he felt \"purity, peace and sublimity\". It was also in 1921 that Champaklal, then a boyof eighteen, first made an adventurous journey to Pondicherry from remote Gujarat, and havingmade pranam to Sri Aurobindo felt that he had \"nothing more to do\" in his life. He didn't see Mirra atthat time, but catching a glimpse of him through the opened Venetian blinds, she recognised in him aborn servitor and \"told Sri Aurobindo then itself: This boy will help me in my work; he will be veryuseful.\" When Champaklal came for good early in 1923, he saw first one and then the other. He felt thatSri Aurobindo was incarnate Shiva, Mirra was the Mother Divine! He experienced \"an extraordinarycloseness to her and saw and felt in her an embodiment of Beauty\". Transmuted by the white spiritual ray He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: An equal greatness in her life was sown.*A work comparing lines of Savitri, Canto “Call to the Quest” with the chapter Second Coming fromthe book “On The Mother”(“On The Mother”, K.R.Srinivasa Iyengar, Chapter 14, “Second Coming”, Sri Aurobindo AshramTrust, Puducherry)www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 5

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017. Flowers Speak…. Joy’s Call It is modest and rarely makes itself heard. Cheerfulness is the salt of sadhana. It is a thousand times better than gloominess. Spiritual Aspiration Rises like an arrow without caring for obstacles or laggards. We can, simply by a sincere aspiration, open a sealed door in us and find… that Something which will change the whole significance of life, reply to all our questions, solve all our problems and lead us to the perfection we aspire for without knowing it, to that Reality which alone can satisfy us and give us lasting joy, equilibrium, strength, life.(Flowers and messages, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry) Joy of StringsA french tampura and a french veena has joined arms to make an Indian harp. Moving the strings oftampura vibrates the sound of waves washing the shore, the sound of OM. Dancing the fingers on Veenabrings forth a sweet rhythm, very pleasing, very colourful. Recently, I got an interesting musicalinstrument from Swaram, a unit of Auroville dedicated to musical research and innovation ininstruments. It is called as Anantar and I call it as the joy of strings.The left arm fingers can softly move over the strings of tampura, creating a gentle background as of amoving river, and the right arm fingers can work on strings of veena creating a rhythm in tune with thesilvery background. Songs of lightness, a little fast can be played on the strings. The eight strings aretuned to the scale, C D E F G A B C. It is indeed a joyful instrument to be with J Sandhyawww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 6

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017. An essence of fall and winter A Golden Walk in Menlo Park, FallFall has been spectacularly beautiful in northern California this year. Awash in scarlet reds, juicyoranges, saffron yellows, deep and rich. Vibrant flames ushering me and my dog down carpets of colorfulleaf mosaics. Beckoning us to see what new wonder will come into sight. Yesterday, November 24th, the day after Thanksgiving here in the US, a golden avenue appeared when I raised my eyes, so marvelously luminous that I let out an audible gasp. A Claude Monet moment --- a shimmering brilliance of color and light. We were walking alongside the carefully constructed mesh fence that separates pedestrians from the train tracks, a tasteful barrier erected to help despondent teens stay alive. I’d been pondering with a heavy heart, the fence, the trials of life, the current sociopolitical state of tribal passions, and seeming anarchy tearing at the world. And, then the golden avenue, with the wonderfully structured trees arching forward towards the fence, created a seemingly endless arcade of life and joy. Opening before me, transporting me into thoughts of the wonder of nature, the beauties of the world. Somewhere on route 280, Winter Time of long shadows, Oyster shell, translucent pale light, striated threads, cloud streams in a blue of soft, subtle tones robin shell, misty \"air\" sea. The clarity of winter Wisdom, mirroring subtly the vagaries of the world The storms of the spirit. - Judith Stewartwww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 7

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017. Celebrating the Joy of Christmas Day The life of the enchanted globe became A storm of sweetness and of light and song, A revel of colour and of ecstasy, A hymn of rays, a litany of cries: A strain of choral priestly music sang And, swung on the swaying censer of the trees, A sacrifice of perfume filled the hours. (Book four, Canto one)25th December – the Christmas tree was decorated and installed in the middle of the Playground.Everyone was gay. The Mother wore a beautiful brocade dress and sat near the tree to distributegifts to everyone with her love and blessings.The band played some tunes, and there were songs and entertainments by the school children.All this was new to me, for we had never had a Christmas tree in our house. Now I was watching,learning and assimilating, trying to perceive the meaning of all this.The Mother’s invocation to Father Christmas:Father Christmas.I evoke you today!Answer our call. Come bearing all your marvellous gifts. You are the great dispenser ofworldly possessions; you are the untiring friend who hears every request and grants itgenerously. Give each one the material object he desires, and as for me, give me enough, giveme much so that I may give largely to all.(An excerpt from ‘Story of the Soul’, By Huta, Havyavahana Trust, Puducherry)www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 8

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017. There wisdom sits on her eternal throne 5th December 2017On December 5, 1950, at 1.26 a.m. he left his body. Of one thing we may be sure: Sri Aurobindodid not succumb to death - for him, as for all great yogis - it was ichha mrityu. The Mother has saidcategorically: 'Our Lord has sacrificed himself totally for us.... He was not compelled to leave hisbody, he chose to do so for reasons so sublime that they are beyond the reach of human mentality.'Indeed the total significance of this supreme sacrifice will remain ungrasped by our limitedintelligence. His body was suffused with a crimson-gold light. Power and peace and bliss filled theroom. Many who came - and they came by thousands - were spell-bound, dumb and overwhelmed.Untarnished, undimmed for five days the body lay in state. On the 9th, at 5 p.m. it was interred in avault in the Ashram courtyard under the cool shade of the 'Service Tree'.The Mother's prayer of gratitude is inscribed in English and French on the two sides of the Samadhi:To Thee who hast been the material envelope of our Master, to Thee our infinite gratitude. BeforeThee who hast done so much for us, who hast worked, struggled, suffered, hoped, endured so much,before Thee who hast willed all, attempted all, prepared, achieved all for us, before Thee we bowdown and implore that we may never forget, even for a moment, all we owe to Thee.(Excerpt from Chapter 14, “Sri Aurobindo for all ages”, Nirodbaran, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust,Puducherry) October - November Sunday Activities at the Centre - A glimpseOctober 15th – Rig Veda:Krishnamoorthy uncle started by highlighting the two main pillars of the Vedic symbolism.“‘The Cow & the Angiras Legend ’ and ‘The Vritra Mythus ’ are the two principle parables or rathersymbolic systems around which all the rest of Vedic symbolism is woven. How we interpret these\"pillars\" will determine how we interpret the Veda ” - Sri AurobindoThroughout the Veda and even otherwise the name Angiras or Angira & Angirasas (plural form), occurin many places.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 9

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017. • Angiras is one of the Saptarishis (Seven Great Sages) of the First Manvantara. (Swayambu Manu is the name of 1st Manvantara). The sage Bharadwaja is from his lineage. • He is also one of the 10 Manasaputras (son born of the mind) of Lord Brahma. • He is one of the Progenitors of humankind. • He, along with sage Atharvan, composed (heard) most of the Atharvana Veda. • His name is applied more than once to God Brihaspati. According to Rig Veda (6.73.1) Brihaspati, the teacher of Gods, was the first-born son of Angirasa. • Through his tapas, came to be known as Angira meaning, “shining like fire.” It comes from the same root as Agni, for which deity the name is used as an epithet. • In one of the hymns of the Atris, the discovery of Agni, the sacred fire is attributed to the Angiras Rishis. In another hymn, he is attributed to Bhrigus. • Agneya, the daughter of Agni is considered as the mother of Angiras. • Indra also is described as becoming an Angiras or as becoming possessed of the Angiras quality. • Usha, the dawn also is described as Angirastama and in addition as Indratama. • Brihaspati also is closely associated with the Angiras Rishis in the winning of the luminous cattle. • In some of the hymns of the 10th Mandala, they are associated as Pitris with Yama. They also take their seats with the gods on the barhis, the sacred grass, and have their share in the sacrifice. • Some Buddhist texts (Pitikas) refer to the Buddha as Angirasa or Angirasa Kumara because he belonged to the Angirasa tribe.Below is the legend in brief as told like a story: • Vala & the Panis, have stolen the Cows and put them in the caves of the remote mountains. Angiras Rishis are in search for them. • The sacrifice has to be performed by the Rishis by chanting of the true ‘Word’. Indra has to be invoked. • Indra has to become strong by drinking the Soma- wine and get the powers of all the Gods, into his thunderbolt. • Sarama should run forward to find the caves and bring Indra and Angirasas to the site. • With Angirasa chanting, Indra with his thunderbolt enters and violently breaks open the strong places of the hill, defeats the panis and drives upward the liberated herds. The conquest is thus effected.Interpreting this legend, Sri Aurobindo begins in the following manner:“Another question arises. Is there a definite sense in these variations binding them together into asingle coherent idea? Or, is it, at random, that the Rishis invoke one or another deity in the searchand war for their lost cattle”?Next He Analyses:Two entirely opposite explanations can be given of the double character of these seers, divine andhuman. • They may have been originally human sages deified by their descendants culminating in giving them a divine parentage and a divine function or • They may have been originally demigods, powers of the Light and Flame, who became humanised as the fathers of the race and the discoverers of its wisdom.Both these processes are recognisable in early mythology”www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 10

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017.2 interlinked aspects that are central to Sri Aurobindo’s method :1. To understand the nature of the Vedic language. § Language, in the early Vedic period, was at a stage where it was extremely fluid. § It had not been cast into a fixed mould where each word referred to a particular thing and that thing alone. § There was a creative utilization of word roots and each root could have multiple meanings. § The word that a root gave birth to, held first the sense of the root, and then of the object which it named. § The word for the Vedic Rishi was still a living thing, a thing of power, creative, formative.2. To understand the psychological phenomena which it represents. • There is a kind of inner psychological experience that is being expressed through the hymns of the Veda. In fact, this fluidity of language gave the Rishis a suitable medium for conveying their abstract experiences. • In that original epoch, thought proceeded by other methods than those of our logical reasoning and speech accepted modes of expression which in our modern habits would be inadmissible. The wisest then depended on inner experience and the suggestions of the intuitive mind for all knowledge that ranged beyond mankind’s ordinary perceptions and daily activities.It is also important not to overlook the following features: • The inner experience is also the deeper layer of meaning behind the outer ritualistic and naturalistic framework and the Veda itself reveals it in certain passages. In such verses, the veil of symbols temporarily lifts and the spiritual intent is seen without any doubt whatsoever. • One is required to find and hold on to these clues and correlate them with other occurrences of the same ideas. Eventually, one is able to affix the exact meaning to each symbol, each image, and the seemingly disconnected mass of hymns becomes a unified expression of a single conception.We also observe certain features that tend to in eternity: • It is not yet a simple mythological tradition despite giving precise images. • Usage of certain freedom and fluidity, betrays the significant image behind the sacred tradition. • Often it is stripped of the mythological aspect and applied to the personal need or aspiration of the seer. • Although Indra has done it once for all in the type by means of the Angirasas, yet he repeats doing it continually even in the present – He is constantly the seeker of the Cows and restorer of the stolen wealth.Here are some of the examples of several variations in the way the stolen Cows are recovered –as narrated by various Vedic Rishis • Sometimes, only Indra is mentioned as instrumental for the recovery, without any mention of Sarama, Angirases or the Panis. Other times, different deities are mentioned – such as: § Usha, the divine Dawn as the mother of these herds § Agni – who sometimes fights alone and otherwise takes either Indra’s help or Soma’s. § The Ashwins are also credited with the same achievementwww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 11

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017. § In some cases, the twin Ashwins are unified as Angiras. § Brihaspati – shown as coming first into birth from the great Light, seven-mouthed, seven-rayed, multiple born to dispel darkness. § The Maruts– though less directly associated – shown as singers of the Rik § Pushan – shown as the Increaser – a form of the Sun-God § Saraswati – as slayer of the Panis.The question Sri Aurobindo puts is – ‘ Is there a definite sense in these variations binding into asingle coherent idea ? ’.His answer: ‘If we consent to take the ideas of the Veda as a whole instead of bewildering in theplay of separate details, we shall find a simple and sufficient answer.’ § The matter of the lost herds is only part of a whole system of connected symbols and images. They are recovered: § By the sacrifice - Fiery God Agni is the flame, the power and the priest of the sacrifice too. § By the Word – Brihaspati is the father of the Word, the Maruts its singers, and Saraswati its inspiration. § By the Wine – Soma is the god of the Wine, and the Ashwins its seekers, finders, givers and drinkers. § By the Form – The herds are the herds of the Light – the Light comes from the Dawn and by the Sun of whom Pushan is a form. § Finally by Indra – who is the head of all these gods. He is the Lord of the Light, King of the luminous heaven called Swar.He is the luminous or Divine Mind – into him all the Gods enter and take part in his unveiling of thehidden light. Hence there is a perfect appropriateness in the attribution of one and the same victory tothese different deities – in line with Rishi Madhucchandas’ image of the gods entering into Indra for thestroke against Vala – Nothing is done at random - Veda is perfect and beautiful in its coherence andunity.We also recalled one of the Savitri passages related to Angirasa in Book 3 – The Book of The DivineMother,Canto IV – The Vision and The Boon: I saw the Omnipotent’s flaming pioneers Over the heavenly verge which turns towards life Come crowding down the amber stairs of birth; Forerunners of a divine multitude, Out of the paths of the morning star they came Into the little room of mortal life. I saw them cross the twilight of an age, The sun-eyed children of a marvellous dawn, The great creators with wide brows of calm, The massive barrier-breakers of the world And wrestlers with destiny in her lists of will, The labourers in the quarries of the gods, The messengers of the Incommunicable, The architects of immortality.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 12

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017.November 12th – Doctrine of the mysticsThis was the concluding session of our deep dive into the ‘Doctrine of the Mystics’. After a briefrecap, Jared took us through the major Godheads namely Agni, Indra, Surya and Soma. This wasfollowed by the seven Angrasas and the Soul in varied complex forms.“Agni first, for without him the sacrificial flame cannot burn on the altar of the soul. That flame of Agniis the seven-tongued power of the Will, a Force of God instinct with knowledge. This conscious andforceful will is the immortal guest in our mortality, a pure priest and a divine worker, the mediatorbetween earth and heaven. It carries what we offer to the higher Powers and brings back in return theirforce and light and joy into our humanity.Indra, the Puissant next, who is the power of pure Existence self-manifested as the Divine Mind. As Agniis one pole of Force instinct with knowledge that sends its current upward from earth to heaven, so Indrais the other pole of Light instinct with force which descends from heaven to earth. He comes down intoour world as the Hero with the shining horses and slays darkness and division with his lightnings, poursdown the life-giving heavenly waters, finds in the trace of the hound, Intuition, the lost or hiddenilluminations, makes the Sun of Truth mount high in the heaven of our mentality.Surya, the Sun, is the master of that supreme Truth, -- truth of being, truth of knowledge, truth of processand act and movement and functioning. He is therefore the creator or rather the manifester of all things-- for creation is outbringing, expression by the Truth and Will -- and the father, fosterer, enlightener ofour souls. The illuminations we seek are the herds of this Sun who comes to us in the track of the divineDawn and releases and reveals in us night-hidden world after world up to the highest Beatitude.Of that beatitude Soma is the representative deity. The wine of his ecstasy is concealed in the growthsof earth, in the waters of existence; even here in our physical being are his immortalising juices andthey have to be pressed out and offered to all the gods; for in that strength these shall increase andconquer.”“That ascension has already been effected by the Ancients, the human forefathers, and the spirits ofthese great Ancestors still assist their offspring; for the new dawns repeat the old and lean forward inlight to join the dawns of the future. Kanwa, Kutsa, Atri, Kakshiwan, Gotama, Shunahshepa have becometypes of certain spiritual victories which tend to be constantly repeated in the experience of humanity.The seven sages, the Angirasas, are waiting still and always, ready to chant the word, to rend the cavern,to find the lost herds, to recover the hidden Sun.Thus the soul is a battlefield full of helpers and hurters, friends and enemies. All this lives, teems, ispersonal, is conscious, is active. We create for ourselves by the sacrifice and by the word shining seers,heroes to fight for us, children of our works. The Rishis and the Gods find for us our luminous herds;the Ribhus fashion by the mind the chariots of the gods and their horses and their shining weapons. Ourlife is a horse that neighing and galloping bears us onward and upward; its forces are swift-hoovedsteeds, the liberated powers of the mind are wide-winging birds; this mental being or this soul is theupsoaring Swan or the Falcon that breaks out from a hundred iron walls and wrests from the jealousguardians of felicity the wine of the Soma.Every shining godward Thought that arises from the secret abysses of the heart is a priest and a creatorand chants a divine hymn of luminous realisation and puissant fulfilment. We seek for the shining goldof the Truth; we lust after a heavenly treasure. The soul of man is a world full of beings, a kingdom inwhich armies clash to help or hinder a supreme conquest, a house where the gods are our guests andwhich the demons strive to possess; the fullness of its energies and wideness of its being make a seat ofsacrifice spread, arranged and purified for a celestial session.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 13

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017.Such are some of the principal images of the Veda and a very brief and insufficient outline of theteaching of the Forefathers. So understood the Rig Veda ceases to be an obscure, confused andbarbarous hymnal; it becomes the high-aspiring Song of Humanity; its chants are episodes of thelyrical epic of the soul in its immortal ascension.This at least; what more there may be in the Veda of ancient science, lost knowledge, old psycho-physical tradition remains yet to be discovered.”Our mental ego divides, limits and decides creating contradictions and conflicts. Evolution for SriAurobindo is the dissolution of the ego and the self-discovery followed by the growth of the innerpsychic flame. Competition represents ego and cooperation the psychic. Love, Beauty and Delight areso near and yet so far. Our Master pleads for • Reconciliation of every possible opposites or different aspects; at the peak of this journey the reconciliation of Being and non-Being opens us to the very source of THE INFINITE – THE ABSOLUTE and • The integration of o Matter and Spirit o Universe and the Individual o Mind and Vital o One and the Many - Ramadoss PROGRAMME FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER 2017DATE TIME DETAILS3rd Dec 2017 8 AM Monthly Morning Walk * Sunday 6 PM 7 PM Meditation and Concentration with Mother’s Organ Music 3rd Dec 2017 6 PM Sunday 6 PM Darshan Day – Sri Aurobindo’s Mahasamadhi 4 PM Special meditation5th Dec 2017 6 PM Tuesday 6 PM Thematic Study Circle Part I: The Human Cycle10th Dec 2017 Sunday Thematic Study Circle Part II The Human Cycle17th Dec 2017 Youth Programme: Sunday Sri Aurobindo and Science Fiction24th Dec 2017 Sunday Savitri Circle24th Dec 2017 New Year Meditation and Readings Sunday31st Dec 2017 Sunday* Please see below for details.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 14

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017. December 2017 Morning Walk – No. 388Date: Sunday, 3rd December 2017Time: 8:00 A.M. sharp for warm up exercise.Walk Venue: Coney IslandMeeting Point: Car Park in Punggol Point Road. From here we shall walk to Coney IslandContact No: Mr S.Ramanathan (9138 5130)Directions to A) MRT/Bus: Reach Punggol MRT, take Bus 84 from Punggol Interchange.the meeting Get down at Punggol Road End Stop.point B) Car: Via TPE, take Exit 9 to Punggol Road/Punggol Flyover and follow Punggol Road to Punggol Point Road. Hosts: Mr. Ritesh Thacker & Family, # 07-637, 259C, Compassavale Road, Singapore 543259 Host’s Residence is less than 200 metres from Senkang MRT Station.RSVP info: Mobile: 90120151 (Mrs Ritesh Thacker), 85116426 (Mrs. Upali)Note: All are encouraged to attend the Walk. Those, however, who are not able to join the Walk,the hosts would be very happy that they directly come 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. PREVIEW OF FORTHCOMING SUNDAY MORNING WALKSWALK NO DATE PLACE HOST 389 07/1/18 West Coast Park Mr S Ramanthan and Family 390 04/2/18 East Coast Park Mrs. Nisha Maheswary and Family 391 04/3/18 Pasir Ris Park Mr Anand K Venkat and Family Along the Way… November 2017 Walk Review (walk no 387)The November 2017 Walk was a special one. We had new hosts (Mr. Sule & family) and our walkwas at a new park- Chestnut Nature Park.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 15

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. December 2017. Located along Chestnut Avenue, Chestnut Nature Park is very close to the Central Catchment Nature Reserve and stretches along BKE, from Gali Batu Flyover to Dairy Farm Flyover. The park stretches over an area of 81 hectares and is considered Singapore’s largest nature park. After the morning exercise, we decided to do both the Northern and Southern trails of the park. The weather was very pleasant and we confidently set out to cover the ~6 km walk before 10 AM. We started on the Northern trail- and quickly realized that there were more bikers than hikers. There were very clear bike and hiking routes- making it safe for both. The route was very green- with trees of all kinds lining the mud path. We came across many small rivulets and even natural bridges like the one on the right. Towards the middle of the trail, we came across a watchtower (below) in its final legs of construction. Once done, it will provide an amazing view of the parkand the water reserve.We soon finished the Northern Trail and realized we were well within time to go on the SouthernTrail. The Southern Trail turned out to be a bit more difficult than the Northern trail- but with evenmore spectacular views. We passed through fields of long grass and some steep slopes on this trail.Finally, we finished the walk by 10 AM and made our way to Mr. Sules place for prayers, meditation(We were all enthralled by the excellent recitation of “Symbol dawn” by Uncle Sule) and anincredibly tasty Marathi brunch.This was a walk to remember, truly! - Saurab 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 16