2 December 2012 - OM Choir
It was the first Sunday of the month. This was a special month as were having 2 walks simultaneously, one in Pondicherry, and one in Singapore—commemorating 40 years of the Society’s existence in Singapore. A few of us gathered at the Centre in the evening after the walk at Bukit Batok Nature Reserve. After the Opening Meditation, a prayer from ‘Prayers and Meditations’ was read out. Once done, we all formed a small circle for the OM choir around a candle glowing nice and bright. We had a quick voice exercise session and then began offering our best OMs in a group. The Overpowering calm that engulfs us while chanting the OM in a group is indescribable and is to be experienced.
5 December 2012 - Darshan Day - Sri Aurobindo's Mahasamadhi Day
It was a Darshan Day - Sri Aurobindo's Mahasamadhi Day. There was a special meditation at the Centre in the evening. The evening started with an Opening Meditation, after which we read out a Prayer from ‘Prayers and Meditations’. The Darshan message was read out aloud a couple of times so that we could absorb the golden words to our best capacity. We formed a circle and read a few pages of the ‘Savitri’. We silently reflected on the significance of the Darshan Day during the Closing Meditation.
9 December 2012 - Talk by Jared Quek- “The Planes of Existence-Part 1”
The second Sunday is when we have been having talks by Jared at the Centre. The topic this time was “The Planes of Existence”. As always, we were each given a handout with precious excerpts from the book. The first plane to be dealt with, during the talk, was The Material Plane. Jared started the talk with a simple question: What are the limitations we face in the Material World. It is not tough to answer this question, simply because the question is about us and the plane we live in, atleast most of the time. There were different answers from all of us: Death, Pain, Greed, Attachment etc. And “These limitations of his power, knowledge, life, delight of existence are the whole cause of man’s dissatisfaction with himself and the universe”. This sparked off an interesting discussion on other facets of the Material Plane. We wound up the discussion with a Closing Meditation.
16 December 2012 - Talk by Jared Quek- “The Planes of Existence-Part 2”
This being the Third Sunday, we were to continue the talk on “The Planes of Existence”. Today, we were to deal with topics such as “The Vital Plane”, “The Mental Plane”, “The Supramental Plane” etc. Jared quickly summarised what was discussed the previous Sunday for the benefit of people who were not present the previous Sunday. To start off, Jared posed an interesting question of how we quintessentially distinguish between living things and non-living things. This brought in a variety of answers. He took the example of a table present at the Centre and brought out the various differences.
“We are normally not aware of the vital world because we use only our corporeal senses and live almost wholly in the body and the physical vitality and the physical mind, and it is not directly through these that the life-world enters into relations with us.”
After reading several such enriching enlightening excerpts and discussing them, we came to realize that these planes are several layers/sheaths present in our being. It is important to traverse the depths of each plane before we hit the next higher plane. With this pearl of wisdom in our head, we sat down for our Closing Meditation.
It was the first Sunday of the month. This was a special month as were having 2 walks simultaneously, one in Pondicherry, and one in Singapore—commemorating 40 years of the Society’s existence in Singapore. A few of us gathered at the Centre in the evening after the walk at Bukit Batok Nature Reserve. After the Opening Meditation, a prayer from ‘Prayers and Meditations’ was read out. Once done, we all formed a small circle for the OM choir around a candle glowing nice and bright. We had a quick voice exercise session and then began offering our best OMs in a group. The Overpowering calm that engulfs us while chanting the OM in a group is indescribable and is to be experienced.
5 December 2012 - Darshan Day - Sri Aurobindo's Mahasamadhi Day
It was a Darshan Day - Sri Aurobindo's Mahasamadhi Day. There was a special meditation at the Centre in the evening. The evening started with an Opening Meditation, after which we read out a Prayer from ‘Prayers and Meditations’. The Darshan message was read out aloud a couple of times so that we could absorb the golden words to our best capacity. We formed a circle and read a few pages of the ‘Savitri’. We silently reflected on the significance of the Darshan Day during the Closing Meditation.
9 December 2012 - Talk by Jared Quek- “The Planes of Existence-Part 1”
The second Sunday is when we have been having talks by Jared at the Centre. The topic this time was “The Planes of Existence”. As always, we were each given a handout with precious excerpts from the book. The first plane to be dealt with, during the talk, was The Material Plane. Jared started the talk with a simple question: What are the limitations we face in the Material World. It is not tough to answer this question, simply because the question is about us and the plane we live in, atleast most of the time. There were different answers from all of us: Death, Pain, Greed, Attachment etc. And “These limitations of his power, knowledge, life, delight of existence are the whole cause of man’s dissatisfaction with himself and the universe”. This sparked off an interesting discussion on other facets of the Material Plane. We wound up the discussion with a Closing Meditation.
16 December 2012 - Talk by Jared Quek- “The Planes of Existence-Part 2”
This being the Third Sunday, we were to continue the talk on “The Planes of Existence”. Today, we were to deal with topics such as “The Vital Plane”, “The Mental Plane”, “The Supramental Plane” etc. Jared quickly summarised what was discussed the previous Sunday for the benefit of people who were not present the previous Sunday. To start off, Jared posed an interesting question of how we quintessentially distinguish between living things and non-living things. This brought in a variety of answers. He took the example of a table present at the Centre and brought out the various differences.
“We are normally not aware of the vital world because we use only our corporeal senses and live almost wholly in the body and the physical vitality and the physical mind, and it is not directly through these that the life-world enters into relations with us.”
After reading several such enriching enlightening excerpts and discussing them, we came to realize that these planes are several layers/sheaths present in our being. It is important to traverse the depths of each plane before we hit the next higher plane. With this pearl of wisdom in our head, we sat down for our Closing Meditation.
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