29 April 2012 : Audio-Visual Presentation This was a “fifth Sunday”. We had a chance to do something else at our Centre. We screened a Power Point Presentation “Towards Tomorrow and Sri Aurobindo Society”, a production by Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry, in commemoration of the Golden Jubilee observed in 2010. It included an introduction to Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. There were very succinct and appropriate glimpses of Society activities. This was a great eye-opener for us as a body psychologically connected to Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry. The slides described the multi-faceted tasks undertaken by the Society in the area of education, health, women’s well-being, business development and economics. It was both informative and inspiring to sit back, and drink in the essence of the teachings of Sri Aurobindo being put to practical use in the community at large without compromising on the growth of the individuals involved on both fronts, the server and the served. The presentation lasted for about 40 minutes. Hiren, an old member of the Society who has now located to Canada was there to speak to us about the Mother’s Grace at play in his life and his family and how important the Singapore Society had been in his and his family’s life. He extended an invitation to all to his dear daughter’s Dance Arangetram. Following this, he kept us immersed in 6 pages of elevating lines of ‘Savitri’. We sat in silence as Hiren recited the lines. It was like a trip to another luminous and glorious world. Such is the power of lines from ‘Savitri’.
6 May 2012: ‘Meditations on Savitri’ For this sitting, we meditated on Book 2, Canto 3: ‘The Glory and Fall of Life’. This section included 7 slides of pictures. The first part of this presentation dealt with the “glory” of which Sri Aurobindo summarises in the phrase, “griefless countries under purple suns”. One was seized immediately by the many suns that dotted the sky over purple countries that lay below. It was indeed a glorious description of a fortunate life illuminated by many suns. The purple colour was striking and brought to mind the significance of colours in Sri Aurobindo’s writings. It was a glorious life where “nude God-children in their play-fields ran”. The imagery left one in wonder. The children were alive and energy seemed to flow from and around them in their various stances and poses. There was a movement inherent in the paintings that seemed to catch the subtle eye. The next part descended into a somber mood. Before Life’s glorious gifts could reach earth, something questioned all. We moved into Canto 4: ‘The Kingdoms of the Little Life’. This section consisted of 10 picture slides which described vividly the Little Life that we do recognize at certain points in our lives and do try and struggle out off, finally yielding to prayer and surrender and a deep aspiration to be disentangled from bonds self-imposed and otherwise.
13 May 2012: ‘Records on Yoga’, by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother’s ‘Commentaries on Records on Yoga’ This was an exceptional occasion. We had with us a large of number of aspirants and devotees. Our usual circle of 8 to 10 swelled to a mighty 22. There were about 6 new-comers. We began our session after extending a warm welcomes to our new friends. We looked at the chapter on Psychic Being, where Sri Aurobindo answered candidly and simply questions that sadhaks had asked on the subject. We then turned to The Mother’s commentaries on the same chapter. At this juncture we dwelled awhile on a particular question a child had posed to The Mother in which the subject is a dream the child had in which he/she had seen The Mother weeping. We attempted to examine the “weeping” in several ways, such as weeping in happiness, weeping in bliss, weeping in sorrow. There was a point brought out about the concept of the Divine weeping in sorrow being quite alien to the Indian Spiritual tradition though the Christian religion includes in within its realm, such as the weeping of Mother Mary at the feet of the crucified Christ. We also spoke a little on the Madonna of Sorrow Sri Aurobindo introduced in ‘Savitri’. We then turned to the Mother’s enlightening answer to the child’s dream vision of her weeping. This was following by ‘Meditations on Savitri’ based on Huta’s painting depicting the Mother of Sorrows in the Triple Soul Forces for the next 5 minutes.
20 May 2012: Readings from ‘Vignettes of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother’; OM choir We began the session with a short reading session on ‘Sri Aurobindo and The Mother on Themselves’ Part II. This reading was to prepare us for the next session on the reading of selected ‘Vignettes from Sri Aurobindo and The Mother’. We spent a longer period of time reading snippets from ‘Sri Aurobindo and The Mother on Themselves’. It was obvious that this reading was quietly and consciously grasped by everyone. The readings brought us closer to Them (or was it the other way round?). We finally went into Vignettes and read a couple of them. One was on how a child aspired to see Sri Aurobindo and did see him during balcony darshan, in place of The Mother. The Mother herself assured the child that it was indeed Sri Aurobindo who had been there and that she was pleased that the child was able to see that. From Vignettes, we moved on to OM choir and spent some quiet minutes getting into ourselves and steadying our breaths. As usual, the OM choir imparted its own unique charm and we ended the day at the Centre on a very quiet and silent note. - Jayanthy
6 May 2012: ‘Meditations on Savitri’ For this sitting, we meditated on Book 2, Canto 3: ‘The Glory and Fall of Life’. This section included 7 slides of pictures. The first part of this presentation dealt with the “glory” of which Sri Aurobindo summarises in the phrase, “griefless countries under purple suns”. One was seized immediately by the many suns that dotted the sky over purple countries that lay below. It was indeed a glorious description of a fortunate life illuminated by many suns. The purple colour was striking and brought to mind the significance of colours in Sri Aurobindo’s writings. It was a glorious life where “nude God-children in their play-fields ran”. The imagery left one in wonder. The children were alive and energy seemed to flow from and around them in their various stances and poses. There was a movement inherent in the paintings that seemed to catch the subtle eye. The next part descended into a somber mood. Before Life’s glorious gifts could reach earth, something questioned all. We moved into Canto 4: ‘The Kingdoms of the Little Life’. This section consisted of 10 picture slides which described vividly the Little Life that we do recognize at certain points in our lives and do try and struggle out off, finally yielding to prayer and surrender and a deep aspiration to be disentangled from bonds self-imposed and otherwise.
13 May 2012: ‘Records on Yoga’, by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother’s ‘Commentaries on Records on Yoga’ This was an exceptional occasion. We had with us a large of number of aspirants and devotees. Our usual circle of 8 to 10 swelled to a mighty 22. There were about 6 new-comers. We began our session after extending a warm welcomes to our new friends. We looked at the chapter on Psychic Being, where Sri Aurobindo answered candidly and simply questions that sadhaks had asked on the subject. We then turned to The Mother’s commentaries on the same chapter. At this juncture we dwelled awhile on a particular question a child had posed to The Mother in which the subject is a dream the child had in which he/she had seen The Mother weeping. We attempted to examine the “weeping” in several ways, such as weeping in happiness, weeping in bliss, weeping in sorrow. There was a point brought out about the concept of the Divine weeping in sorrow being quite alien to the Indian Spiritual tradition though the Christian religion includes in within its realm, such as the weeping of Mother Mary at the feet of the crucified Christ. We also spoke a little on the Madonna of Sorrow Sri Aurobindo introduced in ‘Savitri’. We then turned to the Mother’s enlightening answer to the child’s dream vision of her weeping. This was following by ‘Meditations on Savitri’ based on Huta’s painting depicting the Mother of Sorrows in the Triple Soul Forces for the next 5 minutes.
20 May 2012: Readings from ‘Vignettes of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother’; OM choir We began the session with a short reading session on ‘Sri Aurobindo and The Mother on Themselves’ Part II. This reading was to prepare us for the next session on the reading of selected ‘Vignettes from Sri Aurobindo and The Mother’. We spent a longer period of time reading snippets from ‘Sri Aurobindo and The Mother on Themselves’. It was obvious that this reading was quietly and consciously grasped by everyone. The readings brought us closer to Them (or was it the other way round?). We finally went into Vignettes and read a couple of them. One was on how a child aspired to see Sri Aurobindo and did see him during balcony darshan, in place of The Mother. The Mother herself assured the child that it was indeed Sri Aurobindo who had been there and that she was pleased that the child was able to see that. From Vignettes, we moved on to OM choir and spent some quiet minutes getting into ourselves and steadying our breaths. As usual, the OM choir imparted its own unique charm and we ended the day at the Centre on a very quiet and silent note. - Jayanthy
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