September 2020 Newsletter

September 2020 SRI AUROBINDO SOCIETY VOL 34.09 Singapore NEWSLETTER Krishna I Krishna’s Ananda Manifold, abundant and so full of charm. Plumbago auriculata Cape leadwort Small soft pale lavender blue salverform flower with a very thin long corolla tube and a limb divided into five widely separated lobes; borne in terminal clusters. An evergreen shrub with semi-scandent stems. And then what Krishna must I challenge, - the Krishna of the Gita who is the transcendent Godhead, Paramatma, Parabrahma, Purushottama, the cosmic Deity, Mater of the Universe, Vasudeva who is all, the Immanent in the heart of all creatures, or the Godhead who was incarnate at Brindavan and Dwarka and Kurukshetra and who was the guide of my Yoga and with whom I realised identity? Sri Aurobindo * An Infant nursed on Nature’s covert breast, An Infant playing in the magic woods, Fluting to rapture by the spirit’s streams, Awaits the hour when we shall turn to his call. Savitri, Sri Aurobindo

Krishna I Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2020. Guiding Light of the Month “O THOU whom I may call my God, Thou who art the personal form of the Transcendent Eternal, the Cause, Source and Reality of my individual being, Thou who hast through the centuries and millenniums slowly and subtly kneaded this Matter, so that one day it could become con- sciously identified with Thee, and be nothing but Thee; O Thou who hast appeared to me in all Thy divine splen- dour — this individual being in all its complexity offers itself to Thee in an act of supreme adoration; it aspires in its entirety to be identified with Thee, to be Thyself, eternally Thou, merged for ever in Thy Reality.” January 15, 1916 Prayers and Meditations, The Mother From the Editor’s Desk We have been encountering Krishna either in name Sources of information on Krishna are the or form, receiving him in songs, hearing his names Mahabharata, Bhagavata purana and the Harivamsha. in conversations and in sweet whispers for some Krishna was this dark complexioned boy born to time now that it seems quite a pity to not include Vasudeva and Devaki, whose wicked brother, ruler of something of Krishna, this mysterious personality Mathura was bent on killing her every child, since it was prophesied that one of her children would kill him. and non-personality at once, in our Newsletter. Krishna was miraculously smuggled across the So who is he? A baby, abandoned onto the waters of Yamuna river to Gokul and there raised by the chief of the river for his own safety; adopted and loved by cowherds, Nanda and his wife, Yashoda. foster parents; a dark hued boy, lover of makhan or (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Krishna-Hindu- butter, adorable, full of pranks and mischief; a deity.) The existence of Krishna as a real person on strong lad who comes to the aid of one and all; a lover to multitudes at once, the mellifluous flute earth is a disputed topic in some quarters of the player; a counsellor and friend, a king, a godhead? thinking mind. Here is Sri Aurobindo’s take on this Who is this Krishna? The term Krishna means the topic: “It does not seem to me that there can be any “Dark Complexioned Lord” or “black” or “dark as reasonable doubt that Krishna the man was not a clouds”. Another meaning is attraction or Akarshati. legend or a poetic invention but actually existed According to Prabhupada, Krishna is attractive only upon earth and played a part in the Indian past. because he is a supreme personality of Godhead, Two facts emerge clearly, that he was regarded as having many attractive qualities like beauty, wealth, an important spiritual figure, one whose spiritual courage, strength, love; he is one to whom illumination was recorded in one of the Upanishads, and that he was traditionally regarded innumerable entities are attracted to. Krishna is as a divine man, one worshipped after his death as said to have appeared on earth as a living man about a deity; this is apart from the story in the 5000 years ago. He is said to have existed physically Mahabharata and the Puranas.” (Pgs. 482-3, Letters for 125 years, living a illustrious life, endearing on Yoga, Sri Aurobindo). In a soulful poem, Krishna, everyone to his divinity through his involvement in Sri Aurobindo pours out his intrigue and reverence ordinary life in extraordinary ways, revealing the for this godhead as he merges with his divinity he is (http://www.krishna.com/name-krishna- consciousness. Here is the first stanza: means). Krishna is worshipped as the eighth avatar of the At last I find a meaning of soul’s birth Hindu God, Vishnu. Into this universe terrible and sweet, I who have felt the hungry heart of earth Aspiring beyond heaven, to Krishna’s feet. www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 2 Krishna 1

Krishna I Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2020. Savitri And Krishna and Radha for ever entwined in bliss, The Adorer and Adored self-lost and one. In the last chamber on a golden seat One sat whose shape no vision could define; Only one felt the world’s unattainable fount, A Power of which she was a straying Force, An invisible Beauty, goal of the world’s desire, A Sun of which all knowledge is a beam, A Greatness without whom no life could be. Thence all departed into silent self, And all became formless and pure and bare. Then through a tunnel dug in the last rock She came out where there shone a deathless sun. A house was there all made of flame and light And crossing a wall of doorless living fire There suddenly she met her secret soul. Sri Aurobindo Ahana His flute with its sweetness ensnaring Sounds in our ears in the night and our souls of their teguments baring Hales us out naked and absolute, out to his woodlands eternal, Out to his moonlit dances, his dalliance sweet and supernal, And we go stumbling, maddened and thrilled to his dreadful embraces. Sri Aurobindo www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 3 Krishna 1

Krishna I Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2020. Quotes The struggle in you [between bhakti for Sri Krishna and the sense of the divinity of The Mother] is quite unnecessary; for the two things are one and go perfectly together. It is He who brought you to The Mother and it is by adoration of her that you will realise Him. He is here in the Ashram and it is His work that is being done here. - Sri Aurobindo * The Bhagavad Gita is a true scripture of the human race a living creation rather than a book, a new message for every age and a new meaning for every civilisation. - Sri Aurobindo * Krishna At last I find a meaning of soul’s birth Into this universe terrible and sweet, I who have felt the hungry heart of earth Aspiring beyond heaven to Krishna’s feet. I have seen the beauty of immortal eyes, And heard the passion of the Lover’s flute, And known a deathless ecstasy’s surprise And sorrow in my heart for ever mute. Nearer and nearer now the music draws, Life shudders with a strange felicity; All nature is a wide enamoured pause Hoping her lord to touch, to clasp, to be. For this one moment lived the ages past; The world now throbs fulfilled in me at last. The Mother on Krishna The Mother once narrated the following in a class at the Ashram: I was perhaps twenty-one then, I think either twenty or twenty-one. I met a man who was an Indian, who came from here [India], and he spoke to me about the Gita… He said, “Read the Gita and take Krishna as the symbol of the immanent God, the inner Godhead.” This was all that he told me. He said to me, “Read it with that - the knowledge that Krishna represents the immanent God in the Gita, the God who is within you.” Well, in one month the whole work [of a conscious and constant union with the divine Presence] was done! (CWM Vol. 6, p. 298 * www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 4 Krishna 1

Krishna I Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2020. O immense Light and thou, O spirit-wide boundless Space, Whom have you clasped and hid, deathless limbs, glorified face? Vainly lie Space and Time, “Void are we, there is none.” Vainly strive Self and World crying, “I, I alone.” One is there, Self of self, Soul of space, Fount of Time, Heart of hearts, Mind of minds, He alone sits, sublime. Oh, no void Absolute self-absorbed, splendid, mute, Hands that clasp hold and red lips that kiss below the flute. All He loves, all He moves, all are His, all are He! Many limbs sate His whims, hear His sweet ecstasy. Two in One, Two who know difference rich in sense, Two to clasp, One to be, this His strange mystery. (All India Magazine November 1998 – Sri Krishna) An Experience of a Devotee We conclude this compilation with the sacred experience of Sahana Devi, an inmate of the Ashram since 1928, which she has revealed in her book At the Feet of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo: From my childhood I have been hearing that God is all-compassionate and is an Avatar of compassion. When I came to Pondicherry I had the direct perception of that by the gracious touch of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. During my Ashram life of over 56 years they have poured upon me numerous experiences which cannot be shared with all. But I shall reveal one experience and shall then close my casket of reminiscences. A few months after I had arrived here, I started feeling a sort of uneasiness because I found that I could no more be moved or touched so much by the name of Krishna nor could I sing the songs about him as I used to do. Love, devotion, tears in the eyes, exhilarating states of the heart and mind were diminishing slowly and in their place emotions were crystallising from the very depths around the mother and Sri Aurobindo. While singing about them I felt as if all the inner doors had been flung open. The entire inner being came out with an intense feeling which is beyond description. The feeling I used to have while singing Bhajans and Padavali Kirtans on Krishna were now very much less intense, as if practically absent, and the change brought about an inner conflict for some time. I thought: “They are all divine, only different in form and name and aspect. Why then regarding one I should have so much feeling and none regarding the other? Why should it diminish?” This tormented me for quite a long time. Then I had a splendid experience beyond my expectation while meditating, which removed all my doubts and resolved all my problems. I need not explain the experience, I need only mentione that the experience was wonderful, ineffable! - I had a vision of Sri Krishna. There appeared before me a Radiant Image agleam with blue light! At once my whole being felt prostate at his feet with tears flowing and went on repeating with both my folded hands outstretched - “Oh my Lord! my Beloved God!” In that utterance I felt such an unknown exquisitely sweet feeling of “oneness” with him that I plunged into a sea of marvellous delight which took the form of this exclamation, “Oh, how intimate, how intimate! so intimate that in the whole world that can be none so much my own!” Nothing more can be spoken about the feeling of “oneness” and “owners.” That feeling of “ownness” is composed of elements other than those that gives us the feeling of any earthly “ownness.” These elements have no existence here, only the Divine Himself come so close that it is He who brings this feeling along with Him and infuses it in us. Thet are altogether of a www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 5 Krishna 1

Krishna I Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2020. different order, of a different world - filled with the supernal touch of some rare mood of Heaven! Overwhelming me with this inexpressible feeling he vanished conferring these benedictions - as if a standing Call for the awakening of new consciousness to the coming Dawn of Sri Aurobindo’s future Supramental manifestation:- “Why this lassitude? I am united with Sri Aurobindo.” I wrote everything to Siri Aurobindo and asked him, “How shall I, so unfit a person, so poor a sadhika, take this experience? Have I understood it lightly?” He answered: “Who else can unite with me except Krishna?” (All India Magazine November 1998 – Sri Krishna) Radha’s Prayer – Radha & Krishna Krishna represents both the universal Godhead and the immanent Godhead, he whom one can meet within one’s being and in all that constitutes the manifested world. And do you want to know why he is always represented as a child? It is because he is in constant progression. To the extent that the world is perfected, his play is also perfected—what was the play of yesterday will no longer be the play of tomorrow; his play will become more and more harmonious, benign and joyful to the extent that the world becomes capable of responding to it and enjoying it with the Divine. *** Krishna’s play: a power of progress veiling itself behind appearances. *** Krishna’s play in Matter: beauty, love and joy are comrades; a play which widens and makes you progress. *** Krishna’s play in the physical: the rule of the Avatar upon earth, that is to say, the realisation of the new divine world. *** Can you tell me whether Radha actually existed? Volumes are being written to prove that she did not. Surely she has lived and is still living. *** Radha’s consciousness symbolises perfect attachment to the Divine. *** (https://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/krishna-and-radha#p6 ) www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 6 Krishna 1

Krishna I Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2020. The day Mirra met her Krishna She was drawn to his presence and the Ashram took shape. “Why do you sit thus with a set face, as if the whole world were pressing upon you?” a mother asked her little daughter, christened Mirra, sitting in her tiny chair oblivious to the world around her. The fashionable Paris in the latter half of the 19th century certainly had much to interest a child of an aristocratic family! But the child’s answer, charged by her sincerity, must have come as a shock to the fond mother: “Yes, indeed, I do feel the weight of the world’s miseries pressing upon me!” Different perceptions She was radically different from her relatives and all contemporaries, in her perception of events and values. As she recollected later: “Between 11 and 13 a series of psychic and spiritual experiences revealed to me not only the existence of God, but man’s possibility of uniting with Him, of realising Him integrally in consciousness and action, of manifesting Him upon earth in a life divine. This, along with a practical discipline for its fulfilment was given to me during my body’s sleep by different teachers… Later on, as the interior and exterior development proceeded, the spiritual and psychic relation with one of these beings became more clear and frequent…” She called this being Krishna, without mentally realising the term’s significance. Despite her splendidly different Inner life, she adjusted herself well with her environment and always led groups of young men and women in their quest for the ultimate goal of life. As is well-known, Sri Aurobindo had come over to Pondicherry in 1910, after a turbulent phase in politics that included a year’s incarceration. It was chance, “the pseudonym God uses when He does not wish to put down His signature” that brought Mirra to Sri Aurobindo’s presence on March 29, 1914, in the afternoon. In him she saw at once the Krishna of her childhood vision. She wrote in her diary, “It matters not if there are hundreds of beings plunged in the densest ignorance. He whom we saw yesterday is on earth: His presence is enough to prove that a day will come when darkness shall be transformed into light, when Thy reign shall be indeed established upon earth.” The breaking out of World War 1 obliged her to return to France, but she was back in 1920 to be amidst the small group of disciples residing with Sri Aurobindo. Like children gathering around their mother, more and more people joined the community of seekers and indeed they found in her their Mother, both human and spiritual. It was under her enlightened care that the Ashram took shape. Sri Aurobindo passed away in 1950. But his ideal of humanity transcending all religious or ideological bias, aspiring for a transformed consciousness, found a daring expression in the Mother’s launching the City of Dawn, the Auroville. All these and much more remained inbuilt in that glorious moment of the Mother meeting Sri Aurobindo. She declared, “Without him I exist not; without me he is unmanifest.” (Manoj DAS, The Hindu, https://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/religion/the-day-mirra-met- her-krishna/article5839139.ece ) www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 7 Krishna 1

Krishna I Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2020. The Mother on a Story from Mahabharata A story from Mahabharata, followed by passages from the Mother, which indicate the deeper significance of the story: One day Sri Krishna called Duryodhana and said to him “Duryodhana, go round the city and tell me how many good people you are able to find.” After going round the city, Duryodhana said: 'Krishna, I am not able to find any good man in the world. Everyone is full of selfishness, deceit and hypocrisy.' The next day Sri Krishna called Yudhishtira and said to him: 'Dharmaraj go round the city and tell me how many bad men you are able to find.' After going round the city, Dharmaraj said: 'Krishna, I am not able to find anyone who is entirely bad. Everyone has a spark of goodness in him.'” —Story from 'Mahabharata' The Mother heard the story, and during various talks took the example of this story to bring guidance and light to us. Some of the excerpts of those talks are as follows: “With regard to defects, let us not forget that those which annoy us most in others are usually those which thrive most in ourselves and that, in any case, if we did not have any seeds of these defects within us, we would not be able to perceive them anywhere.” —The Mother, CWM, 2: 95 * “And perhaps if one carried true perfection in oneself, one would discover it more often in others.” —The Mother, CWM, 10: 23 * “If you have the light of goodness burning bright in your heart you will see the same goodness in everyone around.” —The Mother, CWM, 2: 95 * [However most of us are somewhere in between Duryodhana AND Dharmaraj, a mixed bag of good and bad; perhaps tending more towards Dharmaraj than Duruyodhana. In the following passages, the Mother describes the right attitude when we come across other mixed bags like us.] “Is there any one here who is made of perfectly pure and divine vibrations? All of you here are a mixed bag of good and bad vibrations. There is no need to feel any great disgust or revulsion when you come across another mixed bag like you.” —The Mother, CWM, 2: 95 * “There is another factor which you must make them aware. In all those who have the inner call and seeking the Divine with a central sincerity, however unpleasant may be the vibration of their surface being due to some defect or weakness in them, there is a luminous inner being growing towards the Light. In a community where people gather together with a higher aspiration everyone should make the effort to feel this inner being of people around him or work with him. Constantly complaining about the ‘negative vibrations’ or defects of others will prevent the spontaneous flowering of the heart in kindness, generosity and love.” —The Mother, CWM, 2: 95 * www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 8 Krishna 1

Krishna I Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2020. Krishna Consciousness and the advent of Sri Aurobindo in my life By Biswajit Banerjee I have always had a fascination for Lord Krishna. Everything about Him is so awe-inspiring – the delightful vibrations of the word ‘Krishna’, His ethereal beauty, the peacock crown, His beautiful flute and its melodies, the amazing feats, His omnipotence and omnipresence, the splendid pastimes, His composure, the unshakable wisdom, His deep eyes…well, I could go on writingendlessly and yet very little of His infinite nature would stand expressed. The very thought or mention of Lord Krishna brings pleasure to my heart, mind and body. And it has been that way always. Even as a child Icould faintly feel the unfathomable pleasure that goes with Lord Krishna. This pleasure remained with me as I grew up. But the pleasure of Krishna consciousness was and continued to be inconstant and elusive until one day one of my cousins took me to the temple of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in New Delhi. That was indeed a momentous day in my life. I realized that no matter how big I grow in terms of material accomplishments, my life would still have little significance if I didn’t realize its spiritual objectives. Krishna consciousness appeared to be the means to achieve these objectives. My conscious attempts to grow in Krishna consciousness helped me become a more composed man but I was still far from spiritual bliss. The questions and doubts that had constantly plagued my understanding of the material universe often rushed with enormous ferocity as if mocking my scanty awareness of the world within and around me. How did the universe come into being? What lies beyond the dimensions of space and time? Who am I and what ismy purpose of being here? Is there anything such as God (yes, I even had this doubt despite my love and devotion for Lord Krishna) and if yes, where is He? Why do pain and trouble exist in the world? What is consciousness and how does it come into being? These and many other questions remained unanswered. The texts on Krishna Bhakti, although very interesting and soulful, would do little to address these questions and doubts. These books prescribed constant and unfaltering devotion to Krishna and strictly forbade the harbouring of any doubts about the teachings contained in them. But the harder I tried to allay my rational inquiries, the greater they invaded my mind. Therefore, my growth in Krishna consciousness wasn’t joined by a proportionate growth in mental peace. In came Sri Aurobindo at this juncture of my life and the equation of my life changed altogether. SRI AUROBINDO – MY ADORABLE GURU Two of the many spiritual experiences of Sri Aurobindo that I studied as a part of MA in Sri Aurobindo Studies from SACAR-IGNOU connected me eternally to him. One is the sighting of Vasudeva i.e. Lord Krishna in every being and every thing by Sri Aurobindo in the prison cell of Alipore Jail; and the second is Sri Aurobindo’s progress as an integral yogi which he explained to his disciples as happening because of constant support of Krishna. These experiences are indicative of Sri Aurobindo’s deep love for Lord Krishna. This indication was enough for me to turn towards Sri Aurobindo for help and guidance. But I still waited for my inner voice to consent to this idea. As I studied these experiences of the great master repeatedly and imagined how beautiful they might have been, one fine moment I heard my inner voice say excitedly, “Here is he, Biswajit, here is he, he is your Guru – Sri Aurobindo, he is the one who will lead you to perfect Krishna consciousness, he is the one who will address your questions and doubts, he is the one who will eliminate the impediments lying on your path to Krishna realization.” And indeed, Sri Aurobindo is doing for me just what my inner voice had said he would do for me. Studying the realizations of Sri Aurobindo (I shall hereafter fondly call him ‘my guru’) my pursuit of Krishna has become smoother and more meaningful. Sri Aurobindo has furnished answers to all the questions and doubts I had about existence, energy, space, matter, time, universe, self, God, creation of the universe, consciousness, and how consciousness came into being. Although I don’t claim to have understood all that Sri Aurobindo has to say on these issues but surely I have found a direction for further inquiry and research. I shall illustrate with a few examples. www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 9 Krishna 1

Krishna I Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2020. HOW SRI AUROBINDO UNBURDENED ME First, I realized that my questions and doubts were rooted in the fallacious idea of the physical sciences, of which I have been an ardent student, that consciousness is the result of material forces. The truth is just the opposite – consciousness is not the result but the cause of material forces. My guru has given to mankind an ocean of precious literature…every word of his is charged with spiritual energy. Even reading his works, therefore, gives the reader a feel of exaltedness. I have gathered from whatever little I have studied so far as part of my MA that consciousness is the supreme reality of the Divine and His emanations. Whom or what we call the Supreme Brahman, or God, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or Ishwara, is nothing but consciousness in its purest state. This truth solves the problems of creation and the possible future course of the universe. How? Well, Sri Aurobindo explains that Ishwara who is ‘ekam’ (single) turns into ‘bahu’ (many) for His sheer pleasure. The formation of many from one explains how the universe originated. Consciousness descends from the highest state (Sachchidananda), and steadily passes through the levels of Supermind, Overmind, Intuitive Mind, Illumined Mind, Higher Mind, Mind, Vital, Subtle Physical, Physical proper, and Subconscient, and finally moves down to its lowest level or state called the inconscient. From the overmind level onwards, consciousness fails to distinguish itself as a single whole and consequently the idea of duality develops. At the level of the inconscient, the illusion of duality assumes the maximum magnitude. This process of descent of consciousness is known as involution of consciousness in Sri Aurobindo’s terminology. It is noteworthy that life originated at one of the last stages of involution of consciousness. The reverse of involution whereby consciousness ascends from the lowest or inconscient level, steadily passing through all the intermediate levels, to finally reach the highest level of consciousness, i.e. the Sachchidananda level, is called the evolution of consciousness. The twin processes of involution and evolution describe respectively the Divine phenomena of one becoming many, and the many becoming one. Interestingly, there is a theory of the origin of the universe in modern Physics, namely, the Pulsation Theory, which is very similar to the involution- evolution theory. The Pulsation Theory suggests that all the matter and energy of the universe was at first contained in a single primeval atom. Due to unbearable gravity the atom burst throwing its fragments in all possible directions. As a result, the universe began to expand. Research experiments on red-shift prove that the universe is still expanding. However, the followers of the Pulsation Theory contend that this expansion will stop when the critical limit is reached and after the critical limit is reached, the fragments of the universe will rush back at one another thereby starting a process of contraction. This contraction will end with the reconstitution of the primeval atom. We could think of the expansion as involution (i.e. the one becoming many) and contraction as evolution (i.e. the many becoming one). Sri Aurobindo’s writings on involution-evolution have not only made it possible for me to get a hang of the truths behind the origins of universe and life but also opened up vistas for me to see the theories of science in a new light. The knowledge of interplays of consciousness (assuming consciousness to be the origin of matter and energy) solves all the riddles of all physical sciences. KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS IS SRI AUROBINDO CONSCIOUSNESS The writings of Sri Aurobindo are just not writings; to me they are as good as live commentaries. As foreseen by my inner voice, my adorable guru came to me through his writings and dispelled the clouds www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 10 Krishna 1

Krishna I Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2020. of confusions and ignorance to catalyze my growth in Krishna consciousness. It would be false on my part to claim that I fully understand what my Guru says or that all my doubts have been cleared or that I completely agree with him. Well, surely that’s not the case. But my guru has shown me the direction. He has offered solutions to all my questions and doubts which I intuitively feel are the correct solutions. He has, however, not instructed me to follow them blindly. Rather, he wants me, and all his followers, to test the golden truths he has given to the world. Sri Aurobindo has surely lessened the load of doubts over my being and opened up possibilities for their complete elimination from my personality. He has indeed brought me close to Lord Krishna. Last but not the least, Sri Aurobindo is no different from Krishna. When the Mother saw him for the first time she identified him as one of the spiritual masters who used to appear in her supernal dreams. She knew this master by the name of Krishna, although she wasn’t at that time aware of who Krishna is and His position in Indian culture and spirituality. Understandably, to the Mother Krishna and Sri Aurobindo were the same. Krishna consciousness is therefore, Sri Aurobindo consciousness! (http://sacar.in/publications/New%20Race%20Archives/journal-of-intergral- studies/new_race_Nov09/new_race_02.html ) August - Sunday Activities at the Centre - A glimpse August 2nd 2020 – Reading ‘The Mother’ by Sri Aurobindo (Chapter 2, Pages 8-11) We discussed chapter 3 (pages 12 -14) of the book \"The Mother\". In this chapter, Sri Aurobindo says that in order to be armoured against all fear, peril and disaster, not only the Grace of the Mother is needed but also an inner state made up of faith, sincerity, and surrender. He cautions us against an egoistic faith tainted by things such as ambition and vanity, which is like a smoke obscuring a flame that cannot burn upwards towards heaven. He urges us to be sincere and have a genuine surrender so that we give ourselves entirely to the Divine without any reservation. Even a little of these will help us gain the grace and protection of the Mother to protect us against all dangers of this world and the invisible worlds as well as turns difficulties into opportunities, failure into success, and weakness into unfaltering strength. The grace of the Mother is the sanction of the Supreme and its effect is sure, a thing decreed, inevitable and irresistible. - Ram August 9, 2020 – Reading ‘Synthesis of Yoga’ by Sri Aurobindo (Chapter 2, Self-Consecration, Pgs. 86-87) We started with the 3rd Chapter of Part 1: The Yoga of Divine Works. This chapter is titled Self- Surrender in Works – The way of the Gita and we read 2 paragraphs. The chapter begins by reiterating the fact that the field of this yoga remains life and nothing else. The purpose of life should be to transform and transfigure the limited person and nature into a large, a wide consciousness. Self-giving is the means towards this fulfilment. A poignant quotation from the second paragraphs is such: “This growth of the conscious being, an expansion, an increasing self-expression, a more and more harmonised development of his constituent members is the whole meaning and all the pith of human existence. It is for this meaningful development of consciousness by thought, will, emotion, desire, action and experience, leading in the end to a supreme divine self-discovery…” - Jayanthy www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 11 Krishna 1

Krishna I Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. September 2020. August 16, 2020 – Reading ‘Secrets of the Veda’ by Sri Aurobindo (Mandala 1, Suktam 71 of the Rig Veda) “The Veda was the beginning of our spiritual knowledge: the Veda will remain its end --------------- For I believe firmly that the secret concealed in the Veda, when entirely discovered, will be found to formulate perfectly that knowledge and practice of a divine life to which the march of humanity, ------ must inevitably return”. (Shri Aurobindo) Jared has now started leading us in the march by starting “The Primodal Discovery of the Light” (Mandala 1, Suktam 71 of the Rig Veda) and opening the discussions on the Angirases. The first verse starting with “vīḷu ǀ cit ǀ dṛḷhā” evoked interesting discussions about the genesis of the word Angirases and how the path expressed in this verse leads us to immortality. Jared explained that as against denoting Angirasa as a sage in some portions of Vedic Literature, plural term Angirases is used in spiritual context denoting class of divine beings which sprung from Fire. Looking forward to more such lively discussions on the “Secrets of the Veda” - Ramanathan PROGRAMME FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER 2020 DATE TIME DETAILS 8 AM Monthly Morning Walk * 6 Sep 2020 Sunday 6 PM AIM Magazine Reading and Discussion 13 Sep 2020 6 PM Thematic Study Circle by Rakesh: Sunday The Synthesis of Yoga 20 Sep 2020 6 PM Thematic Study Circle by Rakesh: Sunday The Synthesis of Yoga 27 Sep 2020 4 PM Youth Programme Sunday 6 PM Savitri Circle by Mr. Ramadoss * NOTE: In view of the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic, please note the following: There will be a collective meditation, but the brunch and the walk is cancelled Printed and Published by The Sri Aurobindo Society of Singapore 2A Starlight Road 01-07, Singapore 217755. Ramadoss: 97354063 or [email protected]; Anand Patel:[email protected]; Email: [email protected] Visit our website at: www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 12 Krishna 1