Aug 2022 Newsletter

August 2022 SRI AUROBINDO SOCIETY VOL 36.08 Singapore NEWSLETTER The Inner Journey Harmony Harmony Let us work for the day when this will become both the means and the end. Antigonon leptopus Coral vine, Confederate vine, Mexican creeper, Chain of love Tiny delicate lantern-shaped white, pink, deep pink and bicoloured pink flowers in small racemes forming long trailing sprays. A dense fast growing vine with heavily veined lanceolate or ovate-cordate leaves. For all problems of existence are essentially problems of harmony. They arise from the perception of an unsolved discord and the instinct of an undiscovered agreement or unity. To rest content with an unsolved discord is possible for the practical and more animal part of man, but impossible for his fully awakened mind, and usually even his practical parts only escape from the general necessity either by shutting out the problem or by accepting a rough, utilitarian and unillumined compromise. For essentially, all Nature seeks a harmony, life and matter in their own sphere as much as mind in the arrangement of its perceptions. SRI AUROBINDO This manifestation of beauty and harmony is part of the Divine realisation upon earth, perhaps even its greatest part. THE MOTHER (http://www.blossomlikeaflower.com/2008/05/harmony.html)

Harmony Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. August 2022 Guiding Light of the Month O Lord, Thou alone art real and all else is an illusion; for when one lives in Thee one sees and understands all things, nothing escapes Thy perfect knowledge, but everything wears another appearance; for all is Thou in essence, all being the fruit of Thy work, of Thy magnanimous intervention; and in the most sinister darkness Thou couldst kindle a star. 19 January, 1914 Prayers and Meditations, The Mother From the Editor’s Desk as We have been examining the theme on the inner opposite meaning of harmony can also contribute to a journey for the past many months, by following sub- better understanding of the term harmony. In English, themes on inner growth and development. In this issue, the word that best describes the meaning of harmony we conclude this series on “Inner Journey” with a look in opposite is “discord”, besides disharmony. In at harmony. It goes without saying that, though this Sanskrit, that term bearing the opposite meaning of series has specifically looked at some words of The harmony is, “avratya” or “visangata”. Let’s now turn Mother and Sri Aurobindo guiding us in detail on the our attention to what it could actually mean in one’s attitudes to be taken up integrally, everything that one own life and living. ever brings into the ambit of integral yoga, or even Yoga for that matter, is distinctly pointing towards an inner There is not one in us who does not like, love or yearn change in the very psychology that makes up our nature, for harmony, a state when everything in life, outside of life is in accord, pleasingly arranged, moving to a in the physicality, vitality and mentality. wonderful tune. Very rare is a living of such a state, Harmony sounds sweet in the ears, like honey. The word we know. Happily, this condition is what makes us want to pursue a state of harmony. A complete “harmony” has its origin in Greek, harmonia, referring harmony one can aspire for is “integral harmony” to a “joint, agreement, concord. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony#:~:text=11%20External running through and through a being in symphony. %20links,Etymology%20and%20definitions,)%20fit%20together According to The Mother, Integral harmony is, “…harmony between things, harmony between %2C%20join%22.). Some of the common synonyms describing harmony people, harmony of circumstances and above all are: balance, coherence, consonance, proportion, harmony of all aspiration directed towards the symmetry, symphony, and unity. The Merriam-Webster Supreme Truth.” Harmony appears to be a high dictionary describes harmony as a pleasing arrangement state which can only be realised with the of parts of things or chords. Mostly it appears to be transformation of our consciousness. The Mother closely associated with music and the pleasing says, “There is a deep and true consciousness in arrangements of chords or notes into harmonic which all can meet in love and harmony.” We turn symphony, if one may use this phrase. There is also a again to the self and ask ourselves if there is reference to internal calm and tranquillity as harmony. harmony within one in all the parts of the being. It becomes a work of inner perfection of all we are. In the Shabdkosh referred to for this purpose, about 40 The Mother says, “Surely we must always want sanskrit words appeared referring to harmony (both peace and harmony and work for it as much as we nouns and adjectives), alluding to the suggestion that can—but for that the best field of action is always harmony can be differentiated with an attention to within ourselves.” detail, recognised in Indian psychology. In this editorial, we shall refer to three Sanskrit words that may be Finally The Mother’s golden words…” It is only in familiar to most: “susangati”, sangama”, “aikya” and union with the Divine and in the Divine that harmony and peace can be established.” “samvadita”. Considering the term that holds the www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 2 Harmony

Harmony Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. August 2022 www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg Savitri To sport with good and evil is their law; Luring to failure and meaningless success, All models they corrupt, all measures cheat, Make knowledge a poison, virtue a pattern dull And lead the endless cycles of desire Through semblances of sad or happy chance To an inescapable fatality. All by their influence is enacted there. Nor there alone is their empire or their role: Wherever are soulless minds and guideless lives And in a small body self is all that counts, Wherever love and light and largeness lack, These crooked fashioners take up their task. To all half-conscious worlds they extend their reign. Here too these godlings drive our human hearts, Our nature’s twilight is their lurking-place: Here too the darkened primitive heart obeys The veiled suggestions of a hidden Mind That dogs our knowledge with misleading light And stands between us and the Truth that saves. It speaks to us with the voices of the Night: Our darkened lives to greater darkness move; Our seekings listen to calamitous hopes. A structure of unseeing thoughts is built And reason used by an irrational Force. This earth is not alone our teacher and nurse; The powers of all the worlds have entrance here. In their own fields they follow the wheel of law And cherish the safety of a settled type; On earth out of their changeless orbit thrown Their law is kept, lost their fixed form of things. Into a creative chaos they are cast Where all asks order but is driven by Chance; Strangers to earth-nature, they must learn earth’s ways, Aliens or opposites, they must unite: They work and battle and with pain agree: These join, those part, all parts and joins anew, But never can we know and truly live Till all have found their divine harmony. Sri Aurobindo 3 Harmony

Harmony Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. August 2022 Demand of Mahalakshmi ‘Harmony and beauty of the mind and soul, harmony and beauty of the thoughts and feelings, harmony and beauty in every outward act and movement, harmony and beauty of the life and surroundings, this is the demand of Mahalakshmi.’ (Sri Aurobindo) The Life Divine For all problems of existence are essentially problems of harmony. They arise from the perception of an unsolved discord and the instinct of an undiscovered agreement or unity. To rest content with an unsolved discord is possible for the practical and more animal part of man, but impossible for his fully awakened mind, and usually even his practical parts only escape from the general necessity either by shutting out the problem or by accepting a rough, utilitarian and unillumined compromise. For essentially, all Nature seeks a harmony, life and matter in their own sphere as much as mind in the arrangement of its perceptions. The greater the apparent disorder of the materials offered or the apparent disparateness, even to irreconcilable opposition, of the elements that have to be utilised, the stronger is the spur, and it drives towards a more subtle and puissant order than can normally be the result of a less difficult endeavour. The accordance of active Life with a material of form in which the condition of activity itself seems to be inertia, is one problem of opposites that Nature has solved and seeks always to solve better with greater complexities; for its perfect solution would be the material immortality of a fully organised mind- supporting animal body. The accordance of conscious mind and conscious will with a form and a life in themselves not overtly self-conscious and capable at best of a mechanical or subconscious will is another problem of opposites in which she has produced astonishing results and aims always at higher marvels; for there her ultimate miracle would be an animal consciousness no longer seeking but possessed of Truth and Light, with the practical omnipotence which would result from the possession of a direct and perfected knowledge. Not only, then, is the upward impulse of man towards the accordance of yet higher opposites rational in itself, but it is the only logical completion of a rule and an effort that seem to be a fundamental method of Nature and the very sense of her universal strivings. (Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine) Questions & Answers What is the way to establish unity and homogeneity in our being? Keep the will firm. Treat the recalcitrant parts as disobedient children. Act upon them constantly and patiently. Convince them of their error. www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 4 Harmony

Harmony Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. August 2022 In the depths of your consciousness is the psychic being, the temple of the Divine within you. This is the centre round which should come about the unification of all these divergent parts, all these contradictory movements of your being. Once you have got the consciousness of the psychic being and its aspiration, these doubts and difficulties can be destroyed. It takes more or less time, but you will surely succeed in the end. Once you have turned to the Divine, saying, “I want to be yours”, and the Divine has said, “Yes”, the whole world cannot keep you from it. When the central being has made its surrender, the chief difficulty has disappeared. The outer being is like a crust. In ordinary people the crust is so hard and thick that they are not conscious of the Divine within them. If once, even for a moment only, the inner being has said, “I am here and I am yours”, then it is as though a bridge has been built and little by little the crust becomes thinner and thinner until the two parts are wholly joined and the inner and the outer become one. Ambition has been the undoing of many Yogis. That canker can hide long. Many people start on the Path without any sense of it. But when they get powers, their ambition rises up, all the more violently because it had not been thrown out in the beginning. A story is told of a Yogi who had attained wonderful powers. He was invited by his disciples to a great dinner. It was served on a big low table. The disciples asked their Master to show his power in some way. He knew he should not, but the seed of ambition was there in him and he thought, “After all, it is a very innocent thing and it may prove to them that such things are possible and teach them the greatness of God.” So he said, “Take away the table, but only the table, let the table-cloth remain as it is with all the dishes upon it.” The disciples cried out, “Oh, that cannot be done, everything will fall down.” But he insisted and they removed the table from under the cloth. Lo, the miracle! The cloth and all that was upon it remained there just as though the table was underneath. The disciples wondered. But all on a sudden the Master jumped up and rushed out screaming and crying, “Nevermore shall I have a disciple, nevermore! Woe is me! I have betrayed my God.” His heart was on fire; he had used the divine powers for selfish ends. It is always wrong to display powers. This does not mean that there is no use for them. But they have to be used in the same way as they came. They come by union with the Divine. They must be used by the will of the Divine and not for display. If you come across someone who is blind and you have the power to make him see — if it is the Divine Will that the man shall see, you have only to say, “Let him see” and he will see. But if you wish to make him see simply because you want to cure him, then you use the power to satisfy your personal ambition. Most often, in such cases, you not only lose your power but you create a great disturbance in the man. Yet in appearance the two ways are the same; but in one case you act because of the Divine Will and in the other for some personal motive. How are we to know, you will ask, when it is the Divine Will that makes us act? The Divine Will is not difficult to recognise. It is unmistakable. You can know it without being very far on the path. Only you must listen to its voice, the small voice that is here in the heart. Once you are accustomed to listen, if you do anything that is contrary to the Divine Will, you feel an uneasiness. If you persist on the wrong track, you get very much disturbed. If, however, you give some material excuse as the cause of your uneasiness and proceed on your way, you gradually lose the faculty of perception and finally you may go on doing all kinds of wrong and feel no uneasiness. But if, when once you feel the least disturbance, you stop and ask of your inner self, “What is the cause of this?” then you do get the real answer and the whole thing becomes quite clear. Do not try to give a material excuse when you feel a little depression or a slight uneasiness. When you stop and look about for the reason, be absolutely straight and sincere. At first your mind will construct a very plausible and beautiful explanation. Do not accept it, but look beyond and ask, “What is it that is behind this movement? Why am I doing this?” Finally you will discover, hidden in a corner, the little ripple — a slight wrong turn or twist in your attitude that is causing the trouble or disturbance. One of the commonest forms of ambition is the idea of service to humanity. All attachment to such service or work is a sign of personal ambition. The Guru who believes that he has a great truth to teach to humanity www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 5 Harmony

Harmony Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. August 2022 and who wants many disciples and who feels uncomfortable when the disciples go away or who seizes on anybody that comes and tries to make him a disciple, is evidently following nothing but his ambition. You must be able, if you are ready to follow the divine order, to take up whatever work you are given, even a stupendous work, and leave it the next day with the same quietness with which you took it up and not feel that the responsibility is yours. There should be no attachment — to any object or any mode of life. You must be absolutely free. If you want to have the true yogic attitude, you must be able to accept everything that comes from the Divine and let it go easily and without regret. The attitude of the ascetic who says, “I want nothing” and the attitude of the man of the world who says, “I want this thing” are the same. The one may be as much attached to his renunciation as the other to his possession. You must accept all things — and only those things — that come from the Divine. Because things can come from concealed desires. The desires work in the subconscious and bring things to you which, although you may not recognise them as such, nevertheless do not come from the Divine but from disguised desires. You can easily know when a thing comes from the Divine. You feel free, you are at ease, you are in peace. But when something presents itself to you and you jump at it and cry out, “Oh, at last I have it”, then you can know for certain that it does not come from the Divine. Equanimity is the essential condition of union and communion with the Divine. (Questions & Answers 1929-1931) Quotes on Harmony A cosmos or universe is always a harmony, otherwise it could not exist, it would fly to pieces. But as there are musical harmonies which are built out of discords partly or even predominantly, so this universe (the material) is disharmonious in its separate elements-the individual elements are at discords with each other to a large extent; it is only owing to the sustaining Divine Will behind that the whole is still a harmony to those who look at it with the cosmic vision. But it is a harmony in evolution in progress – that is, all is combined to strive towards a goal which is not yet reached, and the object of our yoga is to hasten the arrival to this goal. When it is reached, there will be harmony of harmonies substituted for the present harmony built up on discords. This is the explanation of the present appearance of things. (Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga: CWSA, Vol. 30, p 28) * Each thing is in its place, in harmony with all the rest, – then one can begin to understand and live. (The Mother – Questions and Answers: CWM, Vol. 9, p 257) * A universal beauty showed its face: The invisible deep-fraught significances, Here sheltered behind form’s insensible screen, Uncovered to him their deathless harmony And the key to the wonder-book of common things. (Sri Aurobindo – Savitri: CWSA, Vol. 33, Book Two, p 299) * www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 6 Harmony

Harmony Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. August 2022 Integral harmony: harmony between things, harmony between people, harmony of circumstances and above all harmony of all aspiration directed towards the Supreme Truth. (The Mother – Words of the Mother – II: CWM, Vol 14, p 184) (https://themothersguidance.com/harmony/ ) Harmony: let us strive that the day may come when this will be the means and the end. * Harmony is my aim and all that leads to harmony makes me happy. * A harmonious collective aspiration can change the course of circumstances. * Collective harmony is the work undertaken by the Divine Consciousness; It alone has the power to realise it. * There is a deep and true consciousness in which all can meet in love and harmony. * It is only in union with the Divine and in the Divine that harmony and peace can be established. * Surely we must always want peace and harmony and work for it as much as we can—but for that the best field of action is always within ourselves. * Look for the inner causes of disharmony much more than the outer ones. It is the inside which governs the outside. 4 July 1966 * Do not worry or be impatient—all the disharmonies will disappear, but it must be on the true basis of a settled luminous consciousness leaving no room for the play of the ego. * For all to agree, each one must rise to the summit of his consciousness: it is on the heights that harmony is created. April 1970 * You must rise so high in your consciousness that it dominates the opposition. This is the solution. 4 March 1971 (The Mother, Words of the Mother–II) www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 7 Harmony

Harmony Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. August 2022 Harmony with Others I would suggest that in your relations with others, — which seem always to have been full of disharmony, — when incidents occur, it would be much better for you not to take the standpoint that you are all in the right and they are all in the wrong. It would be wiser to be fair and just in reflection, seeing where you have gone astray, and even laying stress on your own fault and not on theirs. This would probably lead to more harmony in your relations with others; at any rate, it would be more conducive to your inner progress, which is more important than to be the top-dog in a quarrel. Neither is it well to cherish a spirit of self- justification and self-righteousness and a wish to conceal either from yourself or from the Mother your faults or your errors. (Sri Aurobindo, SABCL 25:240) * Each one has his own way of doing Sadhana and his own approach to the Divine and need not trouble himself about how the others do it; their success or unsuccess, their difficulties, their delusions, their egoism and vanity are in [the Mother’s] care; she has an infinite patience, but that does not mean that she approves of their defects or supports them in all they say or do. The Mother takes no sides in any quarrel or antagonism or dispute, but her silence does not mean that she approves what they may say or do when it is improper. . . . The Mother tolerates all; she does not forbid any criticism of the Sadhaks by each other nor does she give these criticisms any value. It is only when the Sadhaks see the futility of all these things from the spiritual level that there can be any hope that they will cease. (Sri Aurobindo, SABCL 26:485) * I see no reason therefore why you should care so much if anybody is not behaving well with you. I have told you already that people in the Ashram — it is true even of those who have inner experiences and some opening—are not yet free in their outer selves from ego and wrong ideas and wrong movements. It is no use getting distressed or depressed by that. What you must do is to be turned only to the Mother and relying on her go forward quietly with your work and Sadhana until the time when the Sadhaks are sufficiently awakened and changed to feel the need of greater harmony and union with each other. Let only your spiritual change and progress matter for you and for that trust wholly in the Mother’s force and her grace which is with you—do not let things or people disturb you,—for compared with the truth within and the journey to the full Light of the Mother’s Consciousness these things have no importance. (Sri Aurobindo, SABCL 25:255) * If you want to have knowledge or see all as brothers or have peace, you must think less of yourself, your desires, feelings, people’s treatment of you, and think more of The Divine — living for the Divine, not for yourself. (Sri Aurobindo, SABCL 23:825) * You must never forget that I disapprove of quarrels and always consider that both sides are equally wrong. To surmount one’s feelings, preferences, dislikes and impulses, is an indispensable discipline here. (The Mother, CWM 14:282) * In human life the cause of all difficulties, all discords, all moral sufferings, is the presence in everyone of the ego with its desires, its likes and dislikes. Even in a disinterested work which consists in helping others, until one has learned to overcome the ego and its demands, until one can force it to keep calm and www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 8 Harmony

Harmony Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. August 2022 quiet in one corner, the ego reacts to everything that displeases it, starts an inner storm that rises to the surface and spoils all the work. This work of overcoming the ego is long, slow and difficult; it demands constant alertness and sustained effort. This effort is easier for some and more difficult for others. We are here in the Ashram to do this work together with the help of Sri Aurobindo’s knowledge and force, in an attempt to create a community that is more harmonious, more united, and consequently much more effective in life. As long as I was physically present among you all, my presence was helping you to achieve this mastery over the ego and so it was not necessary for me to speak to you about it individually very often. But now this effort must become the basis of each individual’s existence, more especially for those of you who have a responsible position and have to take care of others. The leaders must always set the example, the leaders must always practise the virtues they demand from those who are in their care; they must be understanding, patient, enduring, full of sympathy and warm and friendly goodwill, not out of egoism in order to win friends for themselves, but out of generosity so that they may understand and help others. To forget oneself, one’s own likings and preferences, is indispensable in order to be a true leader. That is what I am asking of you now, so that you can face your responsibilities as you should. And then you will find that where you used to feel disorder and disunity, they have vanished, and harmony, peace and joy have taken their place. (The Mother, CWM 13:169-70) * Beyond all preferences and limitations, there is a ground of mutual understanding where all can meet and find their harmony: it is the aspiration for a divine consciousness. (The Mother, CWM 15:201) (https://motherandsriaurobindo.in ) July 2022 Sunday Activities at the Centre - A glimpse 3 July 2022: Savitri Reading Circle, Book Seven: Canto Five, Pg. 528 onwards, “The Finding of the Soul” – The Psychic Being in Savitri Book Seven: Canto 6, From page 531 to 535 The session continued with meditating on the passages from SAVITRI- Nirvana and the Discovery of the All-Negating Absolute. Sri Aurobindo’s description of Autumn gives us the joy of the season coursing through every nerve in us. The last rains are over. All is tranquil. A calm, mild sun shines on the earth. A gentle wind blows amid the wet leaves, the sky is clear, once again blissfully smiling in its enchanting blue. Savitri along with Satyavan in the forest is happy, her life feeling fulfilled even as the earth feels fulfilled in this felicitous air. For Savitri has found the truth of her being, knows the aim of her life. And although she keeps to herself this marvellous change within her and does not speak of it to anyone, all around her clearly feel the spell of its charm. The trees speak in rustles of this marvellous change in Savitri to the winds; flowers express it in their flaming colours and new joy. The song of the birds swells into a joyous hymn. The beasts forget their enmities and live in peace. The mild ascetics in the forest, absorbed in their communion with the Divine, find their contemplation in solitude suddenly intensified. www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 9 Harmony

Harmony Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. August 2022 This radiant inner perfection of Savitri pours out into her outer environment. It turns the dull common things in life beautiful, ordinary actions wonderful and drab time into something profoundly divine. Even the most ordinary, petty work becomes a happy and glorious mode of worship, a means of offering oneself to the Self Universal or of serving the One Divinity in All. No more does she see the dark formation of Fate around the beloved head of Satyavan; instead, her newly- opened foreseeing eye perceives a golden halo around a supernal radiance, revealing a fully rounded victorious life. In her visions, in her dreams touching the truth, in the brief glimpses she is vouchsafed of the future, she does not see Satyavan under the irrevocable curse of death or transported to the blissful heavens far away from her, from the warm delight of the earth, from the ardent embrace of love, fully absorbed in the bliss of the immortal. Once as she is sitting deeply happy in contemplation, still vibrating to the thrill of Satyan’s strong embrace, spanning earth and heaven with her joy, transported to the very heavens in her bliss, suddenly an abyss opens wide beneath her feet. A vast, vague, indeterminable fear clutches and drags at her nerves like a wild beast dragging its half-killed prey. It seems to have no ascertainable source; it is not hers. Its cause is unseen, hidden. Then, there rushes on her the vast and terrible Fount of fear. A formless Dread with its wild, huge indeterminate wings fills the universe with its dangerous breath. A darkness more dense than the utmost darkness of the Night envelops the skies and possesses the earth in its grasp It is a consciousness of being bereft of its innate joy, vacant of thought, incapable of bliss, feeling life to be all blank, finding nowhere the soul. Its voice conveys to the dumb anguished heart a wordless message, bare and sharp. Savitri hears in her depths its unspoken thought that makes the world unreal and cancels all meaning from life. \"Do not hope to be happy in this world which is meant for pain. Do not by listening to that inner Word which makes itself heard without utterance, by being carried away by a flash of the supernal Light that cannot be described and by going beyond the absolute Silence of the Superconscience above, ever dream to be able to make known what is for ever unknowable. Do not try to achieve thy heart’s joyous desire of realising Bliss in the silent, still Supreme Reality, thereby thou wouldst taint Its austere, bare and formless sacredness. Do not dream, either, of calling the Divine into thy heart-chamber, and with Him as thy companion sit tasting human joy. \"Know that I have created all this and it is I that devours all. I am the dark Source of life, I am Death. I am the Deity of tamas in this world, Kali black and nude. Again I am Maya, the Power of Illusion, and the whole Universe is my fraud, my cunning trick. \"My very breath lays waste all human happiness. I kill the will to live, the joy of existence, so that all may disappear into a Nothing and only what is eternal, what is absolute, remain. Only the Eternal Void can be true and nothing else. All else is unsubstantial shadow, a flash in the shining glass of the Mind — the Mind which is but a hollow mirror in which Ignorance beholds a splendid reflection of its own unreal self and imagines it is seeing a wonderful world which is solid and real. Then this shadow of the all-negating Absolute passes, the Darkness that would allow nothing else to exist surges past; and the dominating Voice ebbs away leaving behind Savitri’s inner world laid waste by its vibrations. A stark silence weighs heavy upon her heart; her inner kingdom of delight is there no more. Only her soul is left empty, void, awaiting the unknown, eternal Will of God. Meditating on the above passages taken from the Collected Works of Savitri by MP Pandit really transports us to most Ethereal experience of Savitri in the forest with Satyavan. www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 10 Harmony

Harmony Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. August 2022 10 July 2022: Reading on Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo We read the whole paragraph on page 147 and later covered the following first two sentences in detail: 1. There are two signs of the transformation of the seeker’s mind of knowledge and works of knowledge from the process of the Ignorance to the process of a liberated consciousness working partly, then wholly in the light of the Spirit. 2. There is first a central change of the consciousness and a growing direct experience, vision, feeling of the Supreme and the cosmic existence, the Divine in itself and the Divine in all things; the mind will be taken up into a growing preoccupation with this first and foremost and will feel itself heightening, widening into a more and more illumined means of expression of the one fundamental knowledge 24 July 2022: The Inner Journey – Readings and Reflections We first read a quotation by Sri Aurobindo and contemplated upon it: “When the psychic being comes in front, there is an automatic perception of the true and untrue, the divine and the undivine, the spiritual right and wrong of things, and the false vital and mental movements and attacks are immediately exposed and fall away and can do nothing.” Then we took up the topic of Joy, which we read a couple of months ago. In this passage, The Mother points out the one true joy, and that is the joy of “aspiration, of consecration, of self-giving..” to the Divine. She also points out that if there is no joy in one, then one can conclude that there is still the work of purification on oneself, some hard work for us to take up. Sri Aurobindo 31 July 2022: The Bases of Yoga This was the fifth Sunday and Jared took up the bases on Yoga. The awakening of the psychic being was examined, the reasons of why it was important and central to the yoga; on the conditions that would aid in that realisation and some tips for practice was shared. The quotations were largely from Letters on Yoga. The slides shared made the talk enlightening and a joy to listen to. - Jayalakshmi, Jayanthy PROGRAMME FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST 2022 DATE TIME DETAILS 8 AM Monthly Morning Walk * 7 Aug 2022 6 PM Savitri Circle by Venkatesh Rao Sunday Youth Programme 7 PM www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 11 Harmony

Harmony 6 PM Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. August 2022 7 PM 14 Aug 2022 5 PM Thematic Study Circle by Rakesh: Sunday 6 PM The Synthesis of Yoga 15 Aug 2022 Sri Aurobindo’s 150th Birth Anniversary Sunday Secret of the Veda by Krishnamurthy and Jared 21 Aug 2022 Sunday Mother’s Questions and Answers by Shailaja 7 PM Youth Programme 28 Aug 2022 6 PM Readings and Reflections: The Inner Journey by Jayanthy Sunday *Details can be found in the SAS Whatsapp Printed and Published by The Sri Aurobindo Society of Singapore 2A Starlight Road 01-07, Singapore 217755. Anand Venkat: 86126067 or [email protected]; Anand Patel:[email protected]; Email: [email protected] Visit our website at: www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 12 Harmony