Thursday, November 30, 2006

Intellectual dogma and cult-egoism stand in the way

Sri Aurobindo says,
"Each religion has helped mankind. Paganism increased in man the light of beauty, the largeness and height of his life, his aim at a many-sided perfection; Christianity gave him some vision of divine love and charity; Buddhism has shown him a noble way to be wiser, gentler, purer; Judaism and Islam how to be religiously faithful in action and zealously devoted to God; Hinduism has opened to him the largest and profoundest spiritual possibilities. A great thing would be done if these God-visions could embrace and cast themselves into each other; but intellectual dogma and cult-egoism stand in the way."
And this leads me to on to discuss in brief, one other vehicle, less known, wrapped in mystery. The Freemasons. To be continued...Posted by Tim at 2:20 PM

We stayed in Auroville (a.k.a the jungle) for two weeks and practiced yoga

We also did some traveling in India while we were there and I never had a problem with it. Rowan enjoyed the experiences and we always found that people loved her and were accommodating. We took the train to Chennai for a trip to Auroville for a few weeks. Even though the train ride was about 7 hours, it went fine. We stayed in Auroville (a.k.a the jungle) for two weeks and practiced yoga with Chad and Monica.
It was during a freak monsoon and it rained more than I have every experienced in my life. That was the roughest point of our trip to India with a kid and that was only because we were stuck indoors for days at a time with a one year-old with boundless energy. And even that wasn’t too bad. Posted by tara on November 26, 2006 @ 4:20 pm · Filed under Mysore, India

A perfect liberty of thought and of worship must be allowed

Monday, November 27, 2006 Quote for the day
Indian religion has always felt that since the minds, the temperaments and the intellectual affinities of men are unlimited in their variety, a perfect liberty of thought and of worship must be allowed to the individual in his approach to the Infinite.
Maharshi Aurobindo
Posted by abhi Permalink Categories:

We happily oblige to the Ashram rules at last

Friday 24th of November: The bus journey from Chennai to Pondichery lasted for 4 hours but it was an great trip, it's basically a seaside road pretty much all the way. Some places are purely paradise. However, you pass some seasides villages which have been fiercely affected by the tsunami. You can see a lot of redevelopment sponsored by funds from the Tsunami Relief Association.
I arrived in Pondichery early afternoon. Pondichery is an old french colony and the city has kept all the seaside part as it was in terms of architecture so it's very beautiful. Everything is so clean here, people are more chill out, more chatty and I have a great afternoon walking around. I even saw some locals playing the "petanque" which is a traditrional french bowling game. I should have brought some Pernod. I am staying tonight at an Ashram guesthouse. Ashram is basically a community and place od calm/meditation. As a guest I need to comply with their rules which is curfew after 1.30pm, no alcohol, no noise. The guest house is great and there are few backpackers. I met two french girls Chloe and Julie, they are staying there with some people they met in Goa and are doing a bit of travelling with then for a few days. We met up later in the evening and went to this french restaurant, the food was excellent. It's about curfew time so we head back to the guest house. The girls have some prohibited drinks so we spent the rest of the evening in one of their room with an Irish guy and an english couple. Tomorrow I am finally going to the beach. I have booked a scooter, can't wait!!
Saturday 25th of November: Oh boy, the night was short and the sun is kicking hard already. We are finally 7 of us going to the beach so more scooters are rented. We go North of Pondichery to a beach called Quiet Beach. Nice beach but nothing will compare to Goa I am told. The day is spent there, lying on the beach after a big night. We still manage to visit Auroville which is the city I spoke briefly in my first entry in Mumbai.I met Chloe/Julie later on in the evening and we met up with Mate (Irish bloke). The evning is spent in a small local restaurant, we still suffering from last night so tonight it's an early sleep and we happily oblige to the Ashram rules at last. about fabienr

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

A planned international city for spiritual and divine life

Monday, November 27, 2006 Courte voyage sur Pondicherry... or a short trip to Pondicherry, as we say in English. Thursday and Friday were holidays for our team in office. Temesh and I decided that we will go on a trip to Pondicherry taking advantage of the extended weekend. Vimal, Sathish, Vijay and Kapil also decided to join us. Primary inspiration and information for this trip was gathered from Anu's blog...
After breakfast we went to Aurobindo Ashram. Then we hired bicycles and explored the city. This is probably the best way to see the city. After three hours of cycling, we called it quits and took a taxi to Auroville. Auroville is a planned international city, for people who are spiritual and wants to live a divine life, without following any religion. We enjoyed our tour there and shopped quite a lot, in the end. posted by Subhadip @ 5:19 PM 11 comments

Sunday, November 26, 2006

You cannot venture much into the sea

Pondicherry has 2 kind of accommodation for tourists mainly. Beach Resorts, City Hotels. There are Guest Houses also in Auroville & at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. My Recommendation is to stay at Hotel Surguru, 104, SARDAR VALLABHAI PATEL ROAD. PONDICHERRY 605001. TEL: +91-413-2339022. +91-413-2227290 Good Hotel with very good service. Excellent South Indian Food. Good Location, Near to all Attractions in Pondi.
St James Court Beach Resort Good Resort on ECR Road (10 kms from Pondicherry) Food is ok. Only if you need Beach Resort, this is good. But in Ponicherry beaches are not that clean(specially on ECR). Also you cannot venture much into sea as it is dangerous as the slope is steep. posted by Sandeep @ 1:58 PM

Surendra Mohanty's sadhana on the farm

Agriculture and sadhana Surendra Mohanty Mother India, Nov ‘06
Attracted by the great ideal of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, I came to the Ashram in 1975. I was given the work on a farm. This was a new field for me. But ever since I have been tilling and toiling in the fields with the hope of transforming my being, endeavouring to be Her true instrument. Observing myself and trying to correct the imperfections has been my sadhana on the farm. Being an indolent boy with a tamasic nature, my progress has not been quick or sudden. Cultivating crops, taking care of cows and calves has made me prudent and vigilant…The calves are my playmates who remove my boredom…
The truth behind farming has opened my eyes to the Forces at work, guiding us towards the integral and collective sadhana of the Ashram for a complete transformation that will finally make our human life divine.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Sri Aurobindo's teachings include and transcend nondualism

Interestingly, the way I received Ramana's Light is very different to how I received Sri Aurobindo and The Mother's Light. I was first connected to the twin integral avatars via my uncle, who mentioned them in a letter to my mother when I was only 12 or 13, although it was to be some years before that realisation would flower. With Ramana I was already much more spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually mature, and so when Gangaji presented the transmission I was able - through great aspiration (although not really as great as it should have been, because of ego and desire) - to receive it...
Intellectually, Ramana and Sri Aurobindo could not be further apart. Ramana rejects the Aurobindonian position; Sri Aurobindo's teachings include and transcend Ramana's nondualism. Spiritually, once one gets beyond these words, which includes even getting beyond even Maharshi's and Sri Aurobindo's respective words, one feels that both are equal facets of the Supreme. Both are avatars and light bringers to this world of countless beings enmeshed in samsara. Mentally, there is a contradiction, and a limitation. Spiritually, there is no contradiction, only totally complementary revelations of the same Supreme. For me there is no contradiction between the two. posted by m alan kazlev at 3:34 PM Friday, November 24, 2006 Integral Transformation
My summation of Gangaji is here Links: Realization.org: The Power of the Presence Part One: - Ramana had little interest in Sri Aurobindo's philosophical teachings. Generation Sit » Blog Archive » Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo - a sensitive and insightful appreciation, presented from the perspective of Wilberian Integral Theory Integral Spirituality - Exploring the Connection of the Sages Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi and Sri Aurobindo by Charles Ismael Flores. Kheper Home Zaadz blog Living Now

Friday, November 24, 2006

Faith is the strongest staff for the journey

November 23, 2006 Faith Posted by Sree at 7:25 PM Labels:
Do not allow any outward circumstance to shake the faith in you; for nothing gives greater strength than this faith to go through and arrive at the goal. Knowledge and Tapasya, whatever their force, have a less sustaining power- faith is the strongest staff for the journey. - Sri Aurobindo

Pondicherry, the "Riviera of the East"

Thursday, November 23, 2006 Au revoir to Romi and Malin: We have just spent a fantastic but bittersweet weekend in Pondicherry, the "Riviera of the East", a small district which used to be French, and now, still, amongst the deafening smell of curry leaves, coconut oil and latrines, pervades a faint Gallic whiff. We stayed in an old colonial guest house which the owner, Patricia, had decorated stunningly with carved wooden furniture, colourful drapes, cushions and light fittings and brightly painted walls....
Pondicherry was fantastic. We knew we were going to have a good time when, going out to dinner on the evening of our arrival, we saw on the menu "Herb Chicken – chicken cooked in continental herbs, vegetables and French fries – Enjoy with French loaf"...We then went totally bonkers and bought huge amounts of "French" cheese (all made in the nearby commune of Auroville, started by Sri Aurobinda a Guru whose ashram is in Pondy), crackers (not the Diwali type) and expensive wine (not the Indian type)...# posted by Arabella @ 12:42 PM

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Space, Earth, and Environment

Re: Threats to the Planet (NYRB) by Jim Hansen by Rich on Sun 19 Nov 2006 05:08 PM PST Profile Permanent Link Ron thanks for posting this , most of the nyrb articles do have exchanges after they are published, but Hansen is one of my main men, whose guidance I have been following since 1988. when some of his employees at the Goddard Institute in New York were also working part time for me, when I was contracting and managing the Meteorological Office at JFK Airport.

Sri Aurobindo was the first to be baffled by his own experience

The Buddha on Meditation & States of Consciousness, Part I, by Daniel Goleman by rjon on November 20, 2006 06:06PM (PST)
As Suzuki (1958) points out, in every religion it has been the core experience of an altered state which has preceded and been foundation for the subsequent structures of institution and theology. Too often it is the latter that have survived rather than the former; thus the modern crisis of the established churches might be seen in terms of the disappearance in our age of personally experienced transcendental states, the "living spirit" which is the common base of all religions. Still, for each being who enters these staes without a guide, it is as though he were discoverng them for all the world for the first time. A biographer of Sri Aurobindo, for example, notes (Satprem, 1970, p. 256):
"One may imagine that Sri Aurobindo was the first to be baffled by his own experience and that it took him some years to understand exactly what had happened. We have described the ... experience ... as though the stages had been linked very carefully, each with its explanatory label, but the explanations came long afterwards, at that moment he had no guiding landmarks."
The file attached below, titled "The Buddha on Meditation & States of Consciousness-Part I," was an important early influence for me in my personal sadhana. I got to know its author, Daniel Goleman, during my graduate studies at Harvard, when he was a member of Gary Swartz's team in the Psychology Department in William James Hall, one of the first groups in US academia officially studying the neurophysiological correlates of meditative states. by rjon on Mon 20 Nov 2006 06:06 PM PST Permanent Link

Highest possibilities of the evolutionary process

Monday, November 20, 2006 ABOUT A BOOK "DIVINE LIFE" - It is a book written by Sri Aurobindo. The main idea of this book is-''Divinization of life of a man to a super human".Man is a being with instincts of animals of mental and vital consciousness. By regular culture of these instincts gradually to higher consciousness the soul comes to the surface. So, human being transformed to the being of soul which is termed as 'Divine Life'. Such a divine life is free from slavery of bondage of the present human consciousness. In order to achieve that super consciousness one has to cross the barrier consciouness of mind to supermind through overmind. This is the aim of the universe and each unit of the universal being. There is the possibility of achieving super consciousness each and every being of the universe and this is called 'Awareness of Life 'and 'Ascending of consciousness'. And this is regarded as the highest possibilities of the evolutionary process. Posted by Durgesh Nandini at 8:56 AM

Sri Aurobindo college in drama competition

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution DRAMA COMPETITION ON CONSUMER AWARENESS Press Information Bureau Monday, November 20, 2006 16:41 IST: A two-day drama competition is being organized by Voluntary Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education (VOICE) at Dilli Haat on November 24-25, 2006. Sponsored by the Department of Consumer Affairs, this is an effort to promote youth consumer moment that has made a promising beginning this year in Delhi University by running a consumer helpline. Teams from twelve colleges in the city will be presenting items on various aspects of consumer concerns.
The colleges are, Hindu college, Kalindi college, Kamala Nehru college, Lady Irwin college, Motilal Nehru college, Ramjas college, Shaheed Bhagat Singh college, Shivaji college, SGTB Khalsa college, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee college, Sri Aurobindo college and Venkateshware college. The event will be judged by leading drama artists and experts in consumer affairs. The team adjudged the best will be awarded Rs. 25000. The first and second runners up will be awarded Rs. 20000 and Rs. 15000 respectively. The winning team will also get a change to perform at the National Consumer Rights Day celebrations in December, 2006 in New Delhi. SBK:CP:drama20.11.2006

Sraddhalu Ranade is a scientist, educationist and seeker

Sraddhalu Ranade is a scientist, educationist and seeker on the spiritual path. He has been an inmate of Sri Aurobindo Ashram since he was six months old, where he grew up in the care of late Sri M. P. Pandit. He is presently involved in various activities including video productions, software development, and teacher-training programmes. He has travelled widely within India and abroad meeting interested audiences to share his insights on varied themes. A multi-faceted personality, he delivers talks and conducts workshops on numerous subjects including Integral Education, Management, Self-Development, Indian culture, Science and Spirituality, Yoga.
Sraddhalu Ranade is a scientist, educationist and scholar at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, India. He has conducted numerous intensive teacher-training workshops in Integral Education and value-based education all over India and abroad. Over the years many thousands of teachers from several hundred schools and colleges all over India have benefited from these programmes. He regularly addresses students all over India on various scientific and cultural themes always with the emphasis on serving a higher Ideal and preparing ourselves from within for the task.
The book, DVDs, set of Audio CD and MP3 CD are based on a series of three-day teacher-training workshops on Integral Education conducted all over India over a span of several years. It is an attempt to communicate whatever is possible on the content, mood and intensity of the major elements of these interactions. The aim of these workshops was not so much to discuss different techniques of education, but rather to lead participants into a radically different way of experiencing education and our role in it as teachers and parents—and gradually even to awaken or grow into a new attitude to the whole of life itself, for the two are inseparably bound. And from this new state of being, we will discover that the right techniques and methodologies naturally flow from us, and all that we may have learnt over the years from specialized training sessions will naturally fall into place in a wide, embracing and spontaneous harmony. The discussions in these two DVDs lay down the foundations of this new approach, the principles around which it is organized, the different elements involved, and the resultant reshaping of the entire framework of education.
This DVD is the first part of a workshop series that awakens us to a deeper understanding of the nature of thought and the means of its cultivation.The power of thought is unique to the human species. It is the basis of our capacity to learn, grow and master our environment. The quality of our mental self-awareness, the clarity of our thoughts, the way we think, and the goals that we set ourselves – these are the things that ultimately determine the quality of our lives. And yet, we rarely pause to consider how we think and how we can train and further develop and refine this power.

Marguerite Smithwhite created “A New Education with A Soul”

A New Education With a Soul: U.K.-born Marguerite Smithwhite, founder of the International Children's Peace Council (ICPC), has had wide global experience of teaching. As Health Education Officer to the Greater London Council she was responsible for arranging projects of Health Education for all schools and colleges of the Inner London Education Authority, then afterwards moved to India, where she lived for two years in the international township of Auroville and two years in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, teaching in the schools of both places.
From 1980 onwards Marguerite did research into the new modern sciences of high energy physics, Kirlian photography and microphotography, looking at how they could combine with mysticism and spirituality. She also created “A New Education with A Soul” based on the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and had further teaching experience in many countries on three continents, teaching amid various nationalities,religions and cultures, while also doing teacher training.
Its first priority is to teach children to know themselves with all their potential and their individual unique value to human evolution. Education with its soul will be the world's most unifying factor, and it will be the planet's greatest protector. Much more than ever in the past it must emphasise the importance of Art, Beauty, the Sacred in all Human Life.
Mysticism and science are coming together to unveil the soul in all things - both animate and inanimate. This is a curriculum for all ages, for a spiritual education towards a higher consciousness, fully illustrated to make it a fascinating visual experience. Created by Marguerite Smithwhite, and used in many countries for children, parents, teachers, and others. Made in Auroville, India.

Fabrice Dini is teaching French and producing DVDs

Fabrice grew up in a small village in the Swiss Alps surrounded by the sumptuous Beauty of Nature. At the age of twenty, he came to India, spent few months in the Himalayas and two years in Varanasi (the holy city of India), where he learned Indian classical music. Since 1996 he is following Sri Aurobindo's integral yoga spending time in the Ashram of Pondicherry and in Auroville where he is living since 2001. He is teaching French and developed a method using songs, edits books, booklets and audio materials, organises retreats and is currently producing DVDs. Sergey and Fabrice are now living in Auroville
For any information you can contact us by e-mail at Info@WisdomSplendour.org Fabrice Dini Transformation 605101 Auroville Tamil Nadu, India 091 (0)413 262 2586 - 944 34 90 153 Sergey Stanovykh
PRODUCT DVD
Introduction to Integral Education Part 1&2 details How to Think details India Reunion (and World Union) * Auroville, Integral Yoga and the Future of Mankind * by Sraddhalu Ranade
Audio CD
Sri Lalita Sahasranama detailsby M.P. PanditIntroduction to Integral Education (a set of 6 CDs - 7hours) by Sraddhalu Ranade Learn French through songs details by Fabrice, Mathieu and Swaha
MP3
Introduction to Integral Education (7hours) by Sraddhalu Ranade
Book
A New Education with a Soul details by Marguerite Smithwhite Introduction to Integral Education * An Insipirational Guide by Sraddhalu Ranade

Monday, November 20, 2006

Ulrich Mohrhoff teaches quantum philosophy

I teach maths, physics, and quantum philosophy at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education in Pondicherry, India.
I received my education (in physics) from the University of Göttingen, Germany, and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India.
My chief interests are
the foundations of quantum mechanics,
the ontological implications of contemporary physics,
the relations between matter and consciousness — how can a material thing be conscious? how is consciousness of material things possible?
the place of physics in the context of a larger reality,
and the nature of that larger reality. I have published numerous articles on these subjects.

Vladimir Yatsenko, Sanskrit teacher in Auroville

Send Email Vladimir Yatsenko
Personal: Prarthana, Auroville, TN, 605101, India Auroville, Pondicherry 605101
IN Phone: 00914132622316
Work: Savitri Bhavan, Auroville, TN, 605101, India Auroville, Pondicherry 605101
IN Phone: 00914132622922
Online Chat IDs Skype: vladimir160661
About Me: I am a Sanskrit teacher in Auroville, interested in Intergral Yoga.

Auroville worked its magic on me

Auroville and the temple towns: Anyway Auroville worked its magic on me and I was up during the night after the last blog puking up and being attacked by a million mosquitoes in what I described to sophie as 'my worst shit ever'... Any way we would have loved to have stayed in Auroville for longer but all our clothes were damp, and I couldn't stand going for another mosquito nightmare poo, so much for the revelution. Since Auroville we have been to Thiruvunamalai, Thirichipalli, Thanjuvur and where now in Madurai, I hope your looking all these up in the atlas and encyclopedias. All these town have enormous temples which we have been in awe of... posted by paul and sophie @ 3:44 PM Sunday, November 19, 2006

Sri Aurobindo Vidya Mandir, Mahalakshmipuram

BANGALORE: The imagination and creativity of the participants came to the fore at `The Hindu Young World on-the-spot Painting Competition 2006' here on Saturday. The creations of the budding artists drew appreciation from judges and made their job of choosing the winners a bit difficult. In the end, what differentiated the winners and losers was the ability to think differently...
"A scene at the bus stop" or "Save the tree campaign at your school" was the topic for seniors, while it was "Playing with friends" or "Your favourite animal at the zoo" was the subject for the juniors. Ashrith V. of Sri Aurobindo Vidya Mandir, Mahalakshmipuram, walked away with the first prize in junior category. He received a cash prize of Rs. 1,250, a certificate and gift hamper from Lotte. The Hindu Karnataka - Bangalore Sunday, Nov 19, 2006

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Sri Aurobindo experienced first and did write later

Luminous Filament said...True, that the way Sri Aurobindo and his life time spiritual companion, The Mother have formulated and explained this extraordinary phenomena in a very novel and till now unfamiliar manner...
Monday, November 13, 2006 Problem in understanding Aurobindo's writings The extraordinary thing about Aurobindo is that he experienced first and did write later. His all the writings are supported by his years and years of yoga practices where he experimented and re-examined again and again and then he found support or identical quotes in ancient Indian treatise which are still complex and very difficult for people to understand.

Mira was so feministic and bent on transcending gender

Ned Says: November 15th, 2006 at 11:15 pm I agree with Tusar. Through my experiences with abuse I was drawn to Sri Aurobindo and Mirra, and their philosophy seems to be a fantastic balance between head and heart, masculine and feminine, action and silence, God and Godhead. But of course all philosophies are merely cognitive maps, not to be taken too seriously, and to be discarded when greater realizations and higher forms of unconditional love present themselves.
Ned Says: November 19th, 2006 at 12:40 am Spirituality is basically about relationships in my opinion. The universe is fragmented and its different parts are trying to establish relationships with each other, shared linguistic spaces, shared maps, etc., so that the universe can unify itself. That is probably the teleological destiny that Aurobindo and Mirra are calling Supramentalisation. But for us to reach that point we absolutely have to LISTEN. I’m a terrible listener in real life because I have a such a noisy, distracting ego-mind.
spiritofnow 2006-11-09 08:16 am UTC (link) Hey, I see you're interested in Sri Aurobindo! Have you studied him in depth? Of all the spiritual paths out there, the Integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo and Mother Mirra is what has appealed to me as the most inclusive of all other philosophies and worldviews. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)
cyra_song 2006-11-09 02:14 pm UTC (link) I did study him in depth. I'm a devotee of Mother Meera who is considered the successor of Sri Aurobindo and Sweet Mother.Amongst Sri Aurobindo and Sweet Mother ( Mirra), i always felt a closer connection to Sweet Mother. I mainly studied her "Agenda" and it became my " spiritual bible" in so many aspects. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)
spiritofnow 2006-11-10 07:30 am UTC (link) I have heard of Mother Meera, but I did not know she was in any way connected to Aurobindo and Mirra. I like them both, but I think because Mirra was so feministic and bent on transcending gender, as a woman, I feel more closely identified with her than Aurobindo. But Aurobindo's intellect is unsurpassed, I feel, among esoteric philosophers. He does a great job of putting the supra-intellectual into words, even though it is very difficult to do so. Savitri is one of the most beautiful and powerful pieces of poetry I have read -- and I haven't even read all of it yet! (Reply to this) (Parent)

Encens d' Auroville

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