Guiding Light of The Month

O Lord, how ardently do I call and implore Thy love! Grant that my aspiration may be intense enough to awaken the same aspiration everywhere: oh, may good- ness, justice and peace reign as supreme masters, may ignorant egoism be overcome, darkness be suddenly illu- minated by Thy pure Light; may the blind see, the deaf hear, may Thy law be proclaimed in every place and, in a constantly progressive union, in an ever more perfect harmony, may all, like one single being, stretch out their arms towards Thee to identify themselves with Thee and manifest Thee upon earth. - The Mother

A Seer was born, a shining Guest of Time


His was a spirit that stooped from larger spheres
Into our province of ephemeral sight,
A colonist from immortality.

The universal strengths were linked with his;
Filling earth’
s smallness with their boundless breadths,
He drew the energies that transmute an age.

Immeasurable by the common look,
He made great dreams a mould for coming things
And cast his deeds like bronze to front the years.

-          Savitri, Sri Aurobindo

From the Editor’s Desk (Aug 2017)

On our onward journey with Savitri as theme, we take a glimpse at Ashwapathy in this month’s issue of the Newsletter. This choice is also in line with the much awaited month of August that observes the 145th birth anniversary of  Sri Aurobindo. 

Even as Sri Aurobindo penned the epic poem, he poured his whole consciousness into it; his autobiography in part, Savitri is an intimate aid for Spiritual growth. For through King Ashwapathy, the human father of Savitri, Sri Aurobindo conveys his lifelong sadhana in integral yoga and the entire gamut of his experiences. Through Ashwapathy, Sri Aurobindo hews a path across a virgin forest for the travellers of the future advancing towards the grand discovery of the Divine plan. It is notable that Ashwapathy’s yoga, recounted in Books 1 to 3, in 10,000 lines, holds a central place in the epic and covers almost half of its length, alongside Savitri’s yoga. The Mother asserts that what Sri Aurobindo conveys through the lines on Ashwapthy and his journey are “experiences lived by him, realities, supracosmic truths…He experienced all these as one experiences joy or sorrow, physically. He walked in the darkness of inconscience, even in the neighbourhood of death, endured the sufferings of perdition, and emerged from the mud, the world-misery to breathe the sovereign plenitude and enter the supreme Ananda.” 

Turning to Ashwapathy, he is Ashwapathy the King of Madra and the one whose yearning for a greater good for humanity brought about the birth of Savitri, the great World Mother into the human world. Ashwapathy, dissatisfied with the cosmic and microcosmic state of affairs prevailing in him and around him, makes an attempt to realise the Sublime and Supreme in the mundane. He plunges into himself to seek himself out and work out a transformation in himself, seeking a greater good in himself and the whole of humanity.

His journey brings him into the occult regions of his inner self. This results in his own psychological and spiritual transformation. He is carried into another dimension of space and time. He plunges into the dark world of Night and meets the Mother of Evil and her Sons of Darkness. He journeys then through the planes of the physical, vital, mental and the psychic and spiritual planes of existence. As a climatic treat for all lovers of Savitri, Ashwapathy comes face to face with the Supreme Divine Mother. His ardent aspiration for the transformation of the Earth results in The Mother granting him the boon of “One who shall descend and break the iron law”. Thus was the “One”, Savitri, gifted to the world for its transformation through King Ashwapathy’s Yoga. In his own words, Sri Aurobindo describes King Ashwapathy as, “the Yogi who seeks the means to deliver the world out of Ignorance,” reflecting the turn Sri Aurobindo’s own life took on earth for the purpose of realising the Supramental Truth and manifesting it upon the earth plane, giving an influence and a grand uplift to all the workings of Nature. Ashwapathy: 

Immeasurable by the common look,
He made great dreams a mould for coming things
And cast his deeds like bronze to front the years.

Let us contemplate on these laden lines as we approach the special day this August, not forgetting to reflect on our purpose here, in the wide and divine scheme of things.

Savitri, a journey of Love and Light

One who has shaped this world is ever its lord:
Our errors are his steps upon the way;
He works through the fierce vicissitudes of our lives,
He works through the hard breath of battle and toil,
He works through our sins and sorrows and our tears,
His knowledge overrules our nescience;
Whatever the appearance we must bear,
Whatever our strong ills and present fate,
When nothing we can see but drift and bale,
A mighty Guidance leads us still through all.

This transfiguration is earth’s due to heaven:
A mutual debt binds man to the Supreme:
His nature we must put on as he put ours;
We are sons of God and must be even as he:
His human portion, we must grow divine.
Our life is a paradox with God for key.

(Book One, Canto Four)


A note on Aswapathy’s yoga

From the legend we know that Savitri was born to the queen of Aswapathy as the result of a boon by the Goddess Savitri. Here the poet introduces Aswapathy and while explaining the cause of Savitri's birth asserts that her birth was compelled by "a world's desire". Savitri had to take mortal birth in order to meet the intense desire of a whole world. The subsequent portion of the poem up to the end of the third book deals with the vast background which compelled her birth.

Aswapathy's character as a seeker of the Divine and as an adept of the great spiritual and mystic realisation of the past gives us a wonderful picture of man's growth from mental consciousness through various intermediate stages to the Supreme Divine Mother Consciousness.

"The Yoga of the Soul's Release" is the subject of this Canto. Here for the first time it becomes clear that this great epic deals with the spiritual odyssey of the soul. The poet here openly discloses himself as the poet of divine life by beginning in this Canto the song of the soul's liberation. The whole poem becomes the song par excellence of man's growth on earth from the inconscient through the vital and the mental stages to the realms of the Spirit, the realms of the Divine. It is the epic of man's ascent from level to level of consciousness rising from world to world, from peaks of mind to the peaks of the spirit till he reaches the supreme Divine and by his unfailing aspiration invokes the Divine to descend into himself so as to create divine life on earth. But this cannot be so long as human soul is tied like an animal with the triple cord of mental, vital and physical ignorance to the sacrificial post in the vast cosmic sacrifice to be offered as a victim. As long as human consciousness lives in the ego, lives subject to desire, conflict, dualities, suffering and pain, so long he cannot fulfil' the deepest longing and the highest aspiration of his being. He must liberate himself from the bondage of ignorance. The first release comes to man when he can go beyond his animal propensities, when he can free himself from the reign of desire and wake up to some ideals in his life. Therefore, we see Aswapathy,—who symbolises man as the Lord of Life,—waking to the higher potentialities of his nature: he is "a thinker and toiler in the ideal's air". It is in his conception and pursuit of higher intellectual, moral and spiritual ideals that man begins to fee! that he is not merely an animal driven by the goad of hunger and thirst and a slave of desires, but that he has come to this earth from some higher spiritual plane,—at least, that there is something in him which is free from the inertia, inconscience, grossness and coarseness of earth nature and is akin to the pure Spirit. Aswapathy felt that he was "a colonist from immortality", and as such he tended to grow towards, or into, the likeness of his spiritual Self. In this intense aspiration to grow into the likeness of spiritual being "his mind was like a fire assailing heaven".

Aswapathy's spiritual growth began by his realising that the external being of man is not the whole of himself. There are hidden "celestial powers" in man, immense spiritual potentialities lie dormant in the human being. There is an immortal ineffable Spirit in man that creates here the forms for his own manifestation. It is that spirit that "in the worm foresees the coming god". It sees the finite that is actual and knows the infinite that is potential and even' certain. It is when man accepts his higher possibilities of spiritual life that he is able to outgrow his present state of ignorance, leave behind him the limited planes of his mental, vital and physical consciousness and rise beyond them. Then, like Aswapathy, he "Arrive on the frontiers of eternity". He who has heard this call of the Beyond is unable to remain satisfied with the ordinary life of ignorance. His heart seems to be smitten by "a beam of the Eternal", and his mind wants to expand into Infinity. When he succeeds in realising his aspiration then the Divine begins to work overtly in him.

Then a different government of his nature begins for the individual. The divine power that descends in him begins to “turn this frail mud-engine to heaven-use". The insignificant human being is utilised by the divine for a divine purpose. Aswapathy found then that the whole movement of cosmic evolution which appears on the surface like a purposeless activity of the inconscient is in reality controlled by a secret Craftsman who works from behind the veil of ignorance to realise here "his dreamed magnificence of things to be". He saw that "a. mystery of married Earth and Heaven" was a part of the divine dream. He saw the vision of the divine life on earth and henceforth he became a seer, and he knew that he was here as "a shining Guest of Time" from Eternity. After the vision of the Truth to be realised here Aswapathy's limited mind became boundless, his little ego-self completely disappeared, "The island ego joined its continent". He was liberated from the yoke of the laws of Nature's ignorance, from the limitations of the intellect. Before him "there gleamed the dawn of a spiritual day”.

After this spiritual awakening "Humanity framed his movements less and less". It was no longer possible for him to allow the human elements in him to govern his life, and to accept as final the limitations of human nature. He awoke in himself latent powers, faculties that lay dormant in him—powers of pure perception, intimate vision, and also of spiritual experience. He could know the motives, ideas and wishes in other men and he felt also world thought-streams running into his own mind. He could hear secret voices and the "Word that knows". He came in contact with planes of consciousness other than the consciousness of the earth and contacted beings on occult planes. In fact, his consciousness ceased to be limited in the individual nature, and began to widen out into the cosmic. He voyaged from plane to plane till he came to the end of the world of symbols and signs.

From there he crossed beyond into the world of the Formless where there is no object cognizable either by the sense or by the thought. There he found that the whole world became a single Being which felt everything as its own Self. There
"The Supreme's gaze looked out through human eyes
And saw all things and creatures as itself".
There "...oneness is the soul of multitude". It was a realm of knowledge in which eternal calm prevails. It is a realm where one experiences boundlessness;
"While there, one can be wider than the world;
While there, one is one's own infinity”.

With this experience Aswapathy entered a still Consciousness that sustains all, and a peace that passes all understanding. There he found all contradictions of life resolved, sorrow, pain and conflict ceased, because there the Truth was living its own real life. He, thus, realised the origin of the spirit and established his being in the Infinite and his life upon the Eternal. When he looked at the world from his new spiritual poise he saw that the world was only "A small result of a stupendous force". But the ordinary instruments of human nature are incapable of supporting these higher states of being. They hanker after their normal littleness, they want to go back to their petty activities. The gravitational pull of the lower consciousness brings down the consciousness from its height and, at times, man sinks even lower than the normal consciousness during such periods of downward movement. But even these periods of spiritual set-backs are utilised by the Divine within for his own work and are made to contribute to man's growth. The lower ignorant nature of man also has got to receive the divine in order to undergo a change, otherwise soul alone would reach its perfection and nature remain imperfect and earth unfulfilled. He found that, at times, the higher consciousness came down like rain from above, sometimes a flood of illumination descended and he could retain the Light for longer periods. During these periods of ascent and descent, his being was integrated in the process and attained complete equality, tranquil purity, serene strength and lasting peace. He also saw that this tranquillity, was not merely a static condition, but a dynamic power which helped the toiling world by its silent working. He saw from the height of his spiritual consciousness a new self-creation
"A transfiguration in the mystic depths,
A happier cosmic working could begin
And fashion the world-shape in him anew,
God found in Nature, Nature fulfilled in God.”

The light of this higher consciousness penetrated his lower consciousness, or the lower parts of his nature. And knowledge used to come to bun by an act of intuition.

Inspiration also came down into him often in silence. The closed Beyond was opened with "A stab of flame". When the light of intuition came, the mind overlapped itself and his spirit pursued knowledge like a hound. The sparks of intuition and lightnings of inspiration led him to and gave the knowledge of the various realms of the Infinite, and though he saw the play of ignorance and chance in the world, he saw also, through the veil, and comprehended, the world-design behind its outer appearance. He saw the logic of the infinite Intelligence working in. the finite ignorance. In fact, he saw the origin of the world as it is in the spirit— the Divine builder in sleep behind the world. Beyond his plane of inspiration, he could glimpse the Overmind.

When inspiration came down into him, it was like a divine messenger coming with its own rhythm. Sometimes like a bliss pouring down, or a wordless thought, an all-seeing ray, or at times the closed Beyond was opend with "a stab of flame". At other times it became an eye that awakes in trance, or he felt as if inspiration was plundering the vast estate of the Superconscient for him. It became a "gleaner of grains" or worked like a "sheaf-binder" gathering up parts of knowledge and making them into a whole. At times it worked as a reporter, or like a hound pursuing knowledge. It opened the vision of the Truth or brought the word of the Supreme. Its action made Aswapathy comprehend the world-design and behind the apparent working of chance he saw the unfolding of a world-idea.

In the light of his spiritual experience he saw the tree of cosmos supported by the Spirit. He knew the original divine Desire that gave rise to this creation. He could then understand the wisdom that permits this long game of evolution and even feel the Love that sanctions these workings. From his height he saw that the energies of the lower nature had many occult and spiritual powers hidden under their ignorant workings which, if awakened, would be a very precious acquisition for man. He felt a divine presence and greatness everywhere. This universe became
"...a living movement of the body of God."
The world was a conception and a birth of Spirit in matter from where rose
"The divine Dwarf towered unconquered worlds".
His spirit was the witness-spirit and
"Existence a divine experiment
And cosmos the soul's opportunity."
All the suppressed powers of the subconscient and the ignorant instruments of Nature began to blossom into manifestation in him.
Thus, was he released from ignorance. Knowledge of the Divine poured upon him from above and world-knowledge welled out from within "Lonely his days and splendid like the sun's."
All his actions sprang out of Light and all his thoughts referred to the True and the One. He saw other worlds, other forms, other gods, other beings and he deafly experienced that his life had emerged from the Divine. Now, his only work in life was to help mankind by raising it to this higher level and "Feeling earth's smallness with their boundless breadths," and for this "He drew the energies that transmute an age."


(Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri, An approach and a study, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry)

A universal light was in his eyes


A universal light was in his eyes,
A golden influx flowed through heart and brain;
A force came down into his mortal limbs,
A current from eternal seas of Bliss;
He felt the invasion and the nameless joy.
-          Sri Aurobindo, Savitri

(Huta’s face portrait of Aswapathy, Havyavahana Trust, Puducherry)

Agni in Rig-Veda and Aswapathy in Savitri

अग्ने तव श्रवो वयो महि भ्राजन्ते अर्चयो विभावसो ।
बृहद्भानो शवसा वाजमुक्थ्यं दधासि दाशुषे कवे ॥१॥

O Fire, thy inspiration and thy growth and thy lights blaze in their greatness, O thou who shinest out with thy lustres; O great luminousness, O seer, thou foundest by thy strength for the giver a plenitude of utterance.
(Hymns to the Mystic fire)

A Seer was born, a shining Guest of Time.

For him mind’s limiting firmament ceased above,
In the griffin forefront of the Night and Day
A gap was rent in the all-concealing vault;
The conscious ends of being went rolling back:
The landmarks of the little person fell,
The island ego joined its continent:
Overpassed was this world of rigid limiting forms:
Life’
s barriers opened into the Unknown.
(Savitri)

Sri Aurobindo's comments go:

"Night and Dawn are the two unlike mothers who jointly give birth to Agni, Night, the avyakta, unmanifest state of knowledge and being, the power of Avidya, Dawn, the vyakta, manifest state of knowledge and being, the power of Vidya.

They are the two Dawns, the two agencies which prepare the manifestation of God in us, Night fostering Agni in secret on the activities of Avidya, the activities of unillumined mind, life and body by which the god in us grows out of matter towards spirit, out of earth up to heaven, Dawn manifesting him again, more and more, until he is ready here for his continuous, pure and perfect activity. When this point of our journey towards perfection is reached he is born, śveta vāji ['white horse'] in the van of the days. We have here one of those great Vedic figures with a double sense in which the Rishis at once revealed and concealed their high knowledge, revealed it to the Aryan mind, concealed it from the un-Aryan. Agni is the white horse which appears galloping in front of the days, - the same image is used with a similar Vedantic sense in the opening verse of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad; but the horse here is not, as in the Upanishad, aśva, the horse of vital and material being in the state of life-force, but vāji, the horse of Being generally, Being manifested in substance whether of mind, life, body or idea or the three higher streams proper to our spiritual being.

Agni therefore manifests as the fullness, the infinity, the brhat of all this sevenfold substantial being that is the world we are, but white, the colour of illumined purity.

He manifests therefore at this stage primarily as that mighty wideness, purity and illumination of our being which is the true basis of the complete and unassailable siddhi in the yoga, the only basis on which right knowledge, right thinking, right living, right enjoyment can be firmly, vastly and perpetually seated. He appears therefore in the van of the days, a great increasing state of illumined force and being, - for that is the image of ahan, - which are the eternal future of the mortal when he has attained immortality...”

We have here the picture of a divine Presence that establishes itself in the human consciousness, turning that consciousness into a figure of divinity. We have pointers to the light of a Seer-Guest being "born victorious" in one who was so far a mental creature. As a result, "fullness", "infinity", the vastness (brhat) of the spiritual existence are realised.

And by the help of this light the realised "freedoms, powers, illuminations and widenesses" are guarded. Also, the light comes from both Night and Day and moves "in front of the days" in the symbolic shape of a supernatural animal - a White Horse of illumined power - by whom or in whom our Night and Day are transcended and a greater lustre of knowledge revealed beyond them.



(An excerpt from “On Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri” by Amal Kiran, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry)

Delightful Savitri

When Sri Aurobindo was still young, the ancient tale of Savitri in Mahabharatha had attracted his heart. He felt drawn to it foreseeing a great work to be done with it in the future. There are texts that illustrate his efforts to write Savitri at Baroda and other places of his stay.

The love he had for the tale made him use the same as the spinal cord around which he spawned a creative poem expressing the philosophy of yoga and life he had given birth to. Victory through the Truth of Love was his noble aim and he found Savitri resounding the same.

Having found his true call in serving India and realizing her freedom, he left his life in England and came to India on a wonderful mission. As he was going through his political journey, a revealing event made him decide India can attain true freedom only through spiritual service. He proclaimed that India is to become the spiritual leader of the world and her people have to work towards that. His life at Pondicherry was one of a spiritual mission and creation of a new world.

As he was working towards his noble aim, he got reminded of Savitri, the delightful tale his young heart had got attracted to. He called all life as yoga and made all our lives an enjoyable yoga through his work in Savitri.

Savitri has come as a literary symbol for Sri Aurobindo’s yoga. The work lives as a vibrant expression towards universal love, truth and delight in The Mother. Sri Aurobindo has sung his own self search in Aswapathy’s journey, has given rhythmical notes for The Mother in the book of Divine Mother and has set into music the birth and growth of a beautiful soul in the forthcoming chapters. The song of Savitri’s life marks the onset of a life divine on earth.

Princess Savitri enters as the heaven gods shower a rain of flowers. She grows as the flame gold daughter of King Aswapathy. She grows up doing art and science, she grows up as the Mother of the world. Her destined work calls her as she chooses the person she has to blossom along with. The foreknowledge that Satyavan is going to die does not let her fall into a grief, rather, she withdraws into the depths of her soul and grows into the beauty of Truth. A debate she has with lord yama, a debate that expresses the Truth she has grown into, when he appears to take Satyavan’s life. Her wisdom and love conquers death and she wins Satyavan back into her midst. A divine life begins on earth.

The English of Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri has Sanskrit in it. It is modern Veda alighting the world to move towards a new age, the next future.


-          Sandhya

Sri Aurobindo’s symbol

15th August 2017, 145th Birth Anniversay of Sri Aurobindo 



(Painting of the symbol by Sandhya, Quote from sriaurobindoashram.net)

June - July Sunday Activities at the Centre - A glimpse

June 25th - Savitri, an Unending Journey
12 of us continued our exploration of Book 2, Canto 5 “The Godheads of the little life” pictures 11 to 16. We attempted to see through the telepathy of Ashwapahy, the grand purpose behind this seemingly chaotic and chance driven life journey through time. Picture 11 reveals the secret and the fundamental operation of the Universe – The Absolute or in other words ‘The One who is All’ or as described in this passage, ‘The unknown self above’ is our goal; This One becomes the Many and guides our progress as the unfelt involved-self within. Mother’s powers in innumerable forms is the doer of all works in this unending journey of love creating beauty, harmony and dynamic delight for the Divine.

We can accelerate our progress through purification (Shuddi), liberation (Mukti), enjoyment (Bukti) and perfection (Siddhi) of our physical, vital and mental nature. Then through consecration and surrender, we can invoke the powers of the cosmic and transcendent; these infinite boons can help us to shed our mortal state and realize the union of the three Supramental existences – ‘The Transcendent One who is All’, ‘The Cosmic All who is the One’ and ‘The Transcendent and Cosmic All who are in the involved One’;“Sarvam, Anantam, Jnanam, Anandam iti Brahma” – Sapta Chatushtya, Quartet 7.

Picture 16 reveals the true nature of our view of our mortal life with inconscience, falsehood, evil, ignorance, hatred, suffering, death, incapacity, conflicts and contradictions. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel; we can and should accelerate our journey towards God – towards consciousness, Truth, Goodwill, Knowledge, Love, Enjoyment, Immortality and Power. With the right (conscious) perspective, contradictions and conflicts can become complementarities.


July 9th – Savitri with Huta’s visuals
14 of us watched the Book 2, Canto 6, ‘The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Greater Life’ video of Huta’s Paintings with The Mother’s voice and Sunil’s music. We followed it with discussion on the overall theme of this canto. We read MP Pandit’s summary; we also discussed the impact of ignorance: This subtle plane of life represents the stage of involution; though ignorant due to exclusive concentration, it is not yet corrupted; each part represents partial Truth - these parts when properly assembled will represent the whole Truth. The wisdom to correctly assemble is what is missing in this plane.
We discussed in detail Pictures 1 and 2. Picture 1 represents the missing wisdom trying to come down as illuminations and intuitions but tormented by wings of doubtful haze. Picture 2 highlights in a nutshell this whole canto:

“A spirit was there that sought for its own deep self,
Yet was content with fragments pushed in front
And parts of living that belied the Whole
But, pieced together, might one day be true”


July 16th - Presentation by Mr. Joss Brooks on “Greening of Auroville”

We had a houseful response with close to 35 in attendance to this mesmerizing slide show and talk by Mr. Joss. We were pleasantly surprised to hear about the origin of Mr. Joss – Mancheter, where our beloved Master Sri Aurobindo, as a young boy, lived and studied. Joss narrated his journey to Tasmania, Africa and India.

He finally discovered his deep connection to Auroville and Mother - thus embarking on a never ending delightful journey to unearth the hidden beauty and harmony out of chaos.

We were captivated and inspired by the stunning images of the transformations of Auroville site, medicinal plant conservation park at Pichandikulam, Adyar Poonga and Nadukuppam Environmental Education Centre – and the list continues including learning collaborations with IAS officers.

Deep love for Divine beauty coupled with Mother’s powers of aspiration, perseverance, gratitude, humility, sincerity, peace, equality, generosity, goodness, courage, focus on progress and receptivity are behind these unbelievable magical feats. His team, through silent will (without any fanfare), has become role models and influencers across the globe.
There were number of questions such as
·         How Joss is so deeply committed to this journey and accomplishing seemingly impossible
·         Can the experience be transferred to other regions including Singapore
·         Can the seeds and the techniques be used to promote other nurseries
·         How to sustain the Adyar park beauty from deteriorating
Joss's answers were eye openers as he emphasized inclusive growth, participation at all levels and the key role played by his team as silent influencers transforming contradictions/conflicts to compliments through global view and consciousness promotion.

Thus, there is a lot to learn for us from his journey. Another key takeaway is the positive perspective of seeing the hidden beauty beneath the chaos; in fact, chaos is opportunity in waiting - as Sri Aurobindo says, “Manage your Attitude, opportunities will surround you”. We can translate his knowledge and experience to self-discover and create our own beauty and delight out of our deep love in our own ways and fields.


- Ramadoss

Along the Way… July 2017 Walk Review (walk no 383)

The morning walk in July, even though at a known place, it was a different experience. Sanjay had arranged the walk at Tampines Eco garden. We all gathered up at Sanjay’s block, looking forward to the new place where we would be enjoying the walk. It was a bright sunny day and we, as usual with a beaming face, full of energy and expecting to meet our colleagues along with Mr Ramanathan who is always our inspiration, set off for the walk. The Morning walk on the first Sunday of the month does give a splendid experience every time that can best be experienced rather than putting in words.
The walk was on different trails---diversified trail, forest trail and marshy trail. We started the walk, getting soaked in the Sunlight. Sanjay was leading us and he was quite keen to get our attention at the various boards that displayed the information on the flora and fauna that we could look forward to in those trails.As we had just started off, we saw a big water monitor lizard in the middle of the path basking in the Sun. A bit dazzled by a group of people approaching her, that is we all, the poor animal decided to move out of our way and loitered around the marshy area. That moment, the beautiful verse from Savitri came to my mind. This is the very last verse of Canto V of Book 1 before Ashwapathy embarks on his journey to the various worlds.
A Voyager upon uncharted routes
Fronting the viewless danger of the Unknown
Adventuring across enormous realms,
He broke into another Space and Time.
We continued our walk, getting soaked in the bright Sun and playing hide and seek with the shadow till we reached a place that looked quite like out of the way of the path.
It was a raised portion with nice greenery and surrounded by tall trees. Sanjay asked us to have a look at the place. It was wonderful. That place looked as if very few people had entered. As we entered, we could hear the musical chirping of the birds. A place, where we see the nature calling us and asking us to rob the Divine beauty. As we stood there a while, that place looked perfect for meditation. Another piece of verse from Savitri I remembered and that was the ending verse of the first Canto of Book 1.
All sprang to their unvarying daily acts
The thousand peoples of the soil and the tree
Obeyed the unforeseeing instant’s urge
And, leader here with his uncertain mind
Alone who stares at the future’s covered face,
Man lifted up the burden of his fate.
As we walked around the trails, we all did not know how the time passed, till we arrived at Sanjay’s house. We all were received with a very warm welcome by Sanjay and his family. After quenching our thirst with some cold drinks, especially water with mint leaves, we all gathered and started with the meditation. A beautiful heavenly music was played along with Mother’s inspiring words.
Later on everybody enjoyed as the Birthday Boys’ and Girls’ birthdays were read out along with the Anniversaries. The brunch was no less than a lunch and was splendid with a variety of Guajarati dishes. The cake and the sweets were fabulous. With all the sweet memories, we left one by one, looking forward to the walk of the next month and also to the wonderful activities of the centre in the coming weeks.

-          Kiranchandra Vasant Sule