1 September 2012: “Elements of Yoga” by Sri Aurobindo (Difficulties and Problems)
This was the first Saturday of the month, and according to our new schedule, we were to read the book “Elements of Yoga” by Sri Aurobindo. The chapter for the day was “Difficulties and Problems”. We all have days and times of our life when we think we are going through a rough patch and get completely bogged down by difficulties and problems, be it in our day-to-day activities or in our effort to tread the path to the Divine. This chapter was precisely about all that and more. It had honest open questions about why the Sadhak faces more and more difficulties while making his/her sincere attempt to remain unperturbed by the trivial problems of the outside world. While reading the chapter aloud, we realize that Sri Aurobindo says that it is nothing but natural to feel so, and that it is an inevitable part of Sadhana. After that we used the “Commentaries on Elements of Yoga” by the Mother as a guide to help us understand it better. Absorbing all the wise words on Difficulties and Problems, we sat for a Closing Meditation.
9 September 2012: Talk on The Synthesis of Yoga
We, at the Singapore Centre, have a nice new inclusion to our list of monthly activities at the Centre. We are fortunate to have Jared, who has come forward with a list of topics that he would like to speak on, every month on the second Sunday, at the Centre. Today’s talk was a step-up on the talk we had the previous month. We were to have an interesting continuation to the talk on The Synthesis of Yoga. As always, Jared had meticulously formulated a very nice handout which presented to us the precious gems from the book in such a succinct fashion. He was to speak on “Karma Yoga”. He started off with a very interesting topic: The Works of Knowledge, wherein he spoke about how any and every activity of knowledge that seeks after or expresses Truth is a complete offering. He gave very interesting examples of what really is true Divine Work and how we can transform any activity of ours into a Divine activity. Making our own deductions and interpretations of the talk is one thing. But in discussing all this with the others present there is a great possibility of having a beautiful blend of the various hues that everyone brings in. Such is the power of communication. As expected, this sparked off a very interesting discussion, so much so, that we had to carry forward some part of the Talk to the following Sunday.
16 September 2012 : Continuation of Talk on The Synthesis of Yoga followed by OM Choir
As mentioned earlier, the flow of the Talk that took place last Sunday was so beautiful that it would be unjust to leave it at that abruptly. So the first part of today’s session was about giving it a nice gentle end. Jared started off with a briefing of what was covered the previous Sunday, for the benefit of others who had just joined in. We started with the topic “The Works of Love”. It was about the possibility of turning life itself into an act of adoration to the Spirit. We had some knowledgeable participants who quoted the original saying from the Gita. The eclectic mix of the members we are blessed with makes this possible. After a small discussion, we formed a circle for the OM choir around a candle lit gloriously. We had a quick voice exercise session and then began offering our best OMs in a group. I can never do justice to the wave of calm that overpowers us by merely describing it in words.
23 September 2012:Meditation with Savitri Video
The fourth Sunday of every month is when we have the Savitri Reading Circle at the Centre. We were to read selected lines of Book 2 Canto 10—“The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Little Mind”. The lines were essentially about the 3 types of minds: firstly, the one that thinks of only the tangible things in the world, secondly, the one with a scientific bent of mind which wants to measure anything and everything and lastly, the one, which goes beyond the first two stages and thinks about things above all this. Each of us, at different points of time, even during the course of a single day, or even as small a window as an hour, keep shifting from one stage of mind to the other. The trick lies in acknowledging it and making an effort to keep that under control. Huta’s pictures, as always, are so descriptive in nature that it feels like she is almost bringing the lines of Sri Aurobindo to life in your mind’s eyes. Reflecting on these lines, we ended that day’s session with a good discussion and the Closing Meditation.
-Preethi
This was the first Saturday of the month, and according to our new schedule, we were to read the book “Elements of Yoga” by Sri Aurobindo. The chapter for the day was “Difficulties and Problems”. We all have days and times of our life when we think we are going through a rough patch and get completely bogged down by difficulties and problems, be it in our day-to-day activities or in our effort to tread the path to the Divine. This chapter was precisely about all that and more. It had honest open questions about why the Sadhak faces more and more difficulties while making his/her sincere attempt to remain unperturbed by the trivial problems of the outside world. While reading the chapter aloud, we realize that Sri Aurobindo says that it is nothing but natural to feel so, and that it is an inevitable part of Sadhana. After that we used the “Commentaries on Elements of Yoga” by the Mother as a guide to help us understand it better. Absorbing all the wise words on Difficulties and Problems, we sat for a Closing Meditation.
9 September 2012: Talk on The Synthesis of Yoga
We, at the Singapore Centre, have a nice new inclusion to our list of monthly activities at the Centre. We are fortunate to have Jared, who has come forward with a list of topics that he would like to speak on, every month on the second Sunday, at the Centre. Today’s talk was a step-up on the talk we had the previous month. We were to have an interesting continuation to the talk on The Synthesis of Yoga. As always, Jared had meticulously formulated a very nice handout which presented to us the precious gems from the book in such a succinct fashion. He was to speak on “Karma Yoga”. He started off with a very interesting topic: The Works of Knowledge, wherein he spoke about how any and every activity of knowledge that seeks after or expresses Truth is a complete offering. He gave very interesting examples of what really is true Divine Work and how we can transform any activity of ours into a Divine activity. Making our own deductions and interpretations of the talk is one thing. But in discussing all this with the others present there is a great possibility of having a beautiful blend of the various hues that everyone brings in. Such is the power of communication. As expected, this sparked off a very interesting discussion, so much so, that we had to carry forward some part of the Talk to the following Sunday.
16 September 2012 : Continuation of Talk on The Synthesis of Yoga followed by OM Choir
As mentioned earlier, the flow of the Talk that took place last Sunday was so beautiful that it would be unjust to leave it at that abruptly. So the first part of today’s session was about giving it a nice gentle end. Jared started off with a briefing of what was covered the previous Sunday, for the benefit of others who had just joined in. We started with the topic “The Works of Love”. It was about the possibility of turning life itself into an act of adoration to the Spirit. We had some knowledgeable participants who quoted the original saying from the Gita. The eclectic mix of the members we are blessed with makes this possible. After a small discussion, we formed a circle for the OM choir around a candle lit gloriously. We had a quick voice exercise session and then began offering our best OMs in a group. I can never do justice to the wave of calm that overpowers us by merely describing it in words.
23 September 2012:Meditation with Savitri Video
The fourth Sunday of every month is when we have the Savitri Reading Circle at the Centre. We were to read selected lines of Book 2 Canto 10—“The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Little Mind”. The lines were essentially about the 3 types of minds: firstly, the one that thinks of only the tangible things in the world, secondly, the one with a scientific bent of mind which wants to measure anything and everything and lastly, the one, which goes beyond the first two stages and thinks about things above all this. Each of us, at different points of time, even during the course of a single day, or even as small a window as an hour, keep shifting from one stage of mind to the other. The trick lies in acknowledging it and making an effort to keep that under control. Huta’s pictures, as always, are so descriptive in nature that it feels like she is almost bringing the lines of Sri Aurobindo to life in your mind’s eyes. Reflecting on these lines, we ended that day’s session with a good discussion and the Closing Meditation.
-Preethi
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