April 16th – Secrets of the Veda, facilitated by Sri Krishnamurthy:
Based on Sri
Aurobindo’s commentary on the verses in Mandala 1, Sukta 4, a recap was done
on:
·
How the ancient Vedic seers went about to
establish perfection in each of their psychological realms and to establish
harmony between various realms.
·
Their realization, that the above cannot be
achieved without the active collaboration with several cosmic gods.
·
Importance of Indra - the ‘Lord of Mind &Intelligence’ to
help seeker’s spiritual progress by preventing attacks from dark forces like
Vritra, Vala, Panis etc.
·
Summary of the message conveyed by Verses 1 to
3 – Indra
§ as the ‘Fashioner
of right or perfect forms’,
§ accepting
the Soma drink and showering the rays of consciousness on the seeker
§ being
requested not to transcend beyond the limited capacity of the seeker’s vision.
Covered in detail the
Verses 4 to 6 – containing Sri Aurobindo’s translation, commentary, as also
word for word meaning of the verses.
·
Verse 4:
Seeker seeing the spiritual progress of his comrades requests Indra to
further his own.
·
Verse 5:
Here are described that suits towards which the seeker aspires. With fuller Light opening, the dark powers of
Limitation will be satisfied and themselves withdraw.
·
Verse 6: The seeker is appealing to the fighters to
affirm that their task is completed by the fullness of human bliss
accomplished. With this the soul shall
rest in the peace of Indra.
April 24th – The Mother’s final arrival in
Pondicherry, Darshan Day
The program started
off with Meditation music and reading of prayers.
Some passages from the
Book, Sri Aurobindo, THE MOTHER with Letters on The Mother was read.
April 2017 Darshan Day
message was read and as follows:
“The Mother guides
helps each according to his nature and need and where necessary, herself
intervenes with her Power enabling the sadhak to withstand the rigours and
demands of the Path.
She has placed
herself-with all the Love, Peace, Knowledge and consciousness that she is at
the disposal of every aspiring soul that looks for help”.
-
Sri Aurobindo
April 30th - Prayer
meeting in memory of our late senior member Mr Dhana
Mr. Dhana (Mr.
Dhanabalasingham son of Mr. Vallipuram Sinnathamby) who passed away on Tuesday,
28/02/2017 in Singapore.
It was a very touching
session when Ms Dhana, Mr Sashilal Kashyap, Mr KV Rao, Mr Ramanathan and
Shanthi, daughter of Mr and Ms Dhana recollected how wonderful a person Mr
Dhana was. He was a role model for every one of us, in living a disciplined and
time conscious daily routine. He was a great enthusiastic player of golf,
cycling and hiking. Today we the members of Sri Aurobindo Society enjoy the
Morning walks of every first Sunday of the month because of his initiative and
strengthening the course to the core!
Ms Dhana read the
favourite prayer of Mr Dhana. From Prayers and Meditations, it is a very
beautiful prayer dated February 15,1914.
May 7th – Readings from AIM Magazine: Read
a few passages from April 2017, All India Magazine
The Two Who are One, The first page has lines from Savitri , page 61-63.
This issue revolves around the central truths of Sri Aurobindo’s yoga.
There are Two who are One and
play in many worlds;
The Supreme Reality, the
Divine is One. But for purposes of manifestation, the Wonder-Plan of Delight,
the One becomes the Two. It takes one poise as the Existent and another poise
as Consciousness. They are not really two different realities but the same Reality
in two self-aspects who exists; . This biune reality is the dynamic basis of
all manifestation; it reproduces itself at different levels of creation as
Brahman-Maya, Ishwara- Shakti, Purusha-Prakriti. All World-play is a working
out of their respective relations.
The Two, the Being and the
Power, carry their interplay through all the states of existence, in all
conditions of the manifestation. Also, one presides from his status in
Knowledge while the other functions in the limitations of Ignorance; the
interaction of the two works, out the evolution of the world from the
obscurities of Matter to the luminosities of the Spirit.
Our
pleasure and pain are their wrestle and embrace,
Our deeds, our hopes are intimate to their tale;
They are married secretly in our thought and life.
Our deeds, our hopes are intimate to their tale;
They are married secretly in our thought and life.
The
universe is an endless masquerade:
For nothing here is utterly what it seems,
For nothing here is utterly what it seems,
What is seen in this universe
is not the whole truth of it. All is a surface appearance of what truly exists
behind the veil of apparent form. What is observed by the physical eye, what is
experienced by the physical senses, is not.
The world-play is enacted by
Kali, the Shakti, in the form of a Cosmic Dance, a gigantic whirl of her
Energies. For this creative display of her powers, Shiva, the static partner,
provides the stage on his immovable body. His willing person is the ground on
which her feet stamp the steps. He supports the world-dance with his will of
assent.
This Dance of Kali is enacted
not only on the universal stage, but also on the stage of each individual life.
Each one is able to withstand the pressure of her movement because of the
strength of Shiva that is individuated in him and supports the corresponding
kinesis. And in spite of all its stresses, none is willing to withdraw from the
play because each tastes something of the bliss that the Shiva within derives
from it.
Source:
Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo.
Note: The Editorial
passage says that Sri Aurobindo clearly and categorically stated that not only
there is no difference between The Mother’s consciousness and His consciousness
but revealed that one of the fundamental steps in His Integral Yoga is to open
to the Mother and take refuge in Her.
May 14th – Talk
on “General Overview of Indian scriptures through ages - in the Light of Sri
Aurobindo”, by Sundari
The talk began by showing a
confession from Sri Aurobindo, as follows:
"When I approached God at that time, I hardly had a living faith in Him.
The agnostic was in me, the atheist was in me, the sceptic was in me and I was
not absolutely sure that there was a God at all. I did not feel His presence.
Yet something drew me to the truth of the Vedas, the truth of the Gita, the
truth of the Hindu religion. I felt there must be a mighty Truth somewhere in
this Yoga, a mighty Truth in this religion based on Vedanta” Sri Aurobindo”.
The
following points were sequentially covered during the entire session:
·
Hinduism
as “Law of Life”. The most sceptical and
the most believing too. While it has
been greatly questioned and experimented, it has given the deepest experience
of positive spiritual knowledge too.
·
“Bharatiya
Scriptures” - A chart was shown covering Sections
of Vedas, Upanishads, Vedanagas, Upavedas, Smritis, Darshan Shastras, Puranas,
Itihasas and Gita.
·
“Major
classifications” – like
Shruti, Smriti, Samhitas and Shastras.
·
“Literary
Structures” – as
elaborated by Sri Aurobindo in SABCL Vol 10, The Secret of the Veda – page 501.
·
“Difference
between Vedas & Upanishads” – the types and what each contains.
·
“Vedangas
– Like Shiksha, Kalpa, Vyakarana,
Nirukta Or Nighantu, Chandas, Jyotisha
·
“Six
Darshanas” – Like
Poorva Mimamsa, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya, Yoga
·
Talk
ending with mention of Tantra & Dharma Shastras, Major Puranas and Bhagavad
Gita.
May 21st - The Secret of the Veda session:
A quick overview was done of the main message conveyed
in verses 1 to 6 (of Mandla 1, Sukta 4).
Then rest of the verses (7 to 10) were explained in detail – covering,
Sri Aurobindo’s translation / commentary, and word for word meaning of the
verses given by Sri Kapalli Shastry / M.P.Pandit.
·
Verse
7: Here the emphasis is on Rishi
Madhucchandas’ intent in making the ‘Divine Ananda’ (that is
poured out earlier) to be made swift and intense in the system and to be
offered back to Indra for the support of his intensities further. It is the profound joy manifest in the inner
sensations that gives the ecstasy by which the man or the God grows strong.
·
Verse
8: Due to Indra’s continued support,
the ‘Divine
Mind’ in the Rishi gained strength leading to the destruction of all
that opposed, as ‘Coverers or Beseigers’. Also
this gave protection to the possessions already won in past battles from ‘Atris
& Dasyus’ -devourers & plunderers.
·
Verse
9: Though the Rishi’s 'intelligence’
has already become rich and variously stored, he seeks to increase its force of
abundance yet more – in order to remove the ‘Restrainers’ as well as
the
‘Vritras’. This way full and
assured possession of the riches can be maintained.
·
Verse
10: In this concluding verse, the Rishi
praises Indra as ‘a continent of bliss in his vastness’ and ‘the friend of the Soma’ to
whom one should rise the chant. Also
this ‘Divine
Light’ obtained in its entire greatness – free from limitation –
befriends the human soul and carries it safe through the battle, to the
absolute end of its march – ‘the summit of its aspiration’.
·
Thus
ends Madala 1 Sukta 4.
-
Jayalakshmi
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