October - November Sunday Activities at the Centre – A glimpse

October 26^th and November 2^nd : Meditations on Savitri

We meditated on the paintings and passages from ‘Savitri’, Book 7, Canto 6 and 7 on these two Sundays.

Canto 6 – Nirvana and the Discovery of the All-Negating Absolute

This Canto describes Savitri’s discovery and experience of the formless God. The following lines bring out the images of this discovery and experience beautifully:

Then all grew still, nothing moved anymore:

Immobile, self-rapt, timeless, solitary

A silent spirit pervaded silent space

Canto 7 - Omnipresent Reality and the Discovery of the All Fulfilling Godhead

In this canto Sri Aurobindo confirms that the realising of the Godhead is not the end of the transformation. Through Savitri, other realms are revealed to us:

Out of the Infinitudes all came to her,

Into the infinitudes sentient she spread,

Infinity was her own Natural home.

No where she dwelt, her spirit was everywhere,

The distant constellation wheeled round her;

Earth saw her born, all world were her colonies,

The greater worlds of life and mind were hers;

All worlds reproduced her in its lines,

Its movements were large copies of her own.

She was the single self of all these selves,

She was in them and they were all in her.

November 9^th: Readings from The Mother’s Writings and OM Choir

We meditated on the first 2 pages from the book, ‘The Sunlit Path’, and passages from ‘Conversation and Writings of The Mother’.

The Great Adventure

The Mother, in this passage, invites us to the great spiritual adventure in our new world. This is one journey nobody has undertaken and it goes beyond the entire often repeated spiritual journey. “One must put aside all that has been foreseen, all that has been devised, and all that has been constructed, and then..........set off walking into the unknown. And - come what may! There.”

In the passage, The Sublimest of Adventures, she goes on to say that the Victory is certain at the end of this journey. It involves casting away the entire luggage like our effort, our strength, all our being and our life. The risk is worth, as it brings unexplainable relief.

November 16^th: Readings from ‘Bases of Yoga’ by Sri Aurobindo

We meditated on the passages on pages 101 to 105 from the book ‘Bases of Yoga’ by Sri Aurobindo.

These pages talk about Sri Aurobindo’s explanation to his disciples’ questions on the various types and effects of dreams. It was very fascinating to read these passages about sleep and dreams, for which we usually don’t give so much importance. Sri Aurobindo says that dreams of panic come from the subconscient which feels itself small and insignificant and has the fear of being submerged by greater consciousness. To make sleep a refreshing one for both the physical and vital, a conscious sleep helps. Sri Aurobindo says that in order to make sleep a conscious one, we have to remember The Mother and open to Her Force. Not all dreams are from the subconscient level. Some may be clearly symbolic coming from the vital plane, which may indicate potential happenings or changes in the inner or outer nature. In God’s creation, everything, including dreams, has its role.

November 23^rd: Meditations on ‘Savitri’

We meditated on the paintings and readings from ‘Savitri’ – Book 8, Canto 3, ‘Death in the Forest’. The pictures and the lines that show Savitri seeking permission from Satyavan’s mother to go into the forest with Satyavan on the day he was going to be taken by the Lord of Death, were stirring. The lines, “She spoke with guarded lips and tranquil face … And forced upon her speech an outward peace” evoked an admiration and reverence for Savitri’s courageous heart, though it bore the sorrow of the knowledge of the impending death of Satyavan.  Satyavan went with the joy of Savitri’s physical presence. In the woods, he started axing a tree. Awhile later, at the verge of death, Satyavan’s parting words and Savitri’s anguish are brought out so poignantly in the proceeding lines.

- Jayalakshmi