NEWS
November 1999:
November 17th. : The Mother's Mahasamadhi Day was observed with a silent meditation. The message on the Blessings Card from the Sri Aurobindo ashram read:
"Yes, I am always with you, but you must call me, for it is by calling me that the presence becomes more effective." - The Mother.
November 24th: The Day of the Overmental descent into Sri Aurobindo (Siddhi Day) was celebrated with selected readings of passages from Beyond Man, Collected Poems, Prayers and Meditations, Savitri, Life Divine, etc., interspersed with musical offerings of chants from the Bhagavad Gita and Rig Veda. Sunil da's music was played at the begining and the end of our meeting. The message on the Blessings Card from the Sri Aurobindo ashram on this occassion read:
"O Thou incoceivable splendour, Thou conqueror of all ignorance, victor over all egoism, Thou who dost illumine all hearts and enlighten all minds, Thou who art Knowledge and Love and Being, let me live constantly in the consciousness of Thy unity, let me always conform to Thy Will." - The Mother.
December 1999:
December 5th: Sri Aurobindo's Mahasamadhi Day was observed with a silent meditation. The altar was set up with the Lord's Mahasamadhi picture. Lotus candles and a few white carnations were placed below. At the blessed feet was offered a stalk of white orchids - "attatchment to the Divine". The message on the Blessings Card from the Sri Aurobindo ashram was a passage from Savitri by Sri Aurobindo and read:
Appearing and perishing on the roads of Time
Creates God's moment by eternity's beats.
He dies that the world may be new-born and live.
November and December were the months of mass migrations from the Center in L.A. to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. Dr. and Mrs De, Anie, Debashish and Amrita were some of the visitors to the Ashram. All had a wonderful visit. Mrs Manjari De was an invited attendee of the Women's Conference, Anie spent her time at the Ashram and Auroville, interviewing Amal Kiran and Udar Pinto, spending time with Dimitri von Morenschild, making musical offerings for Christmas at the ashram school and the Nursery. and revisitng Auroville, where she stayed as a guest of Sanjeev Aggarwal. Robert (Director of the Center), Prahlad bhai (resident care-taker) and Dorian (dedicated member) kept the Center functioning wonderfully while all others were away. Robert held classes on Sri Aurobindo's The Hour of God at the Center, while Prahlad bhai and Dorian worked wonders in the garden. Kenji our Hatha Yoga instructor, who comes every once a week, also took a sojourn to Japan for a millennial celebration with his family.
Birthdays: This was the auspicious time for Sagittarians and Scorpios - Pravir Malik from Northern California visited with family for his Birthday weekend. Dorian had a belated celebration at the Center. Anie and Stuart shared the latter's delicious birthday cake over tea with a few at the Center followed by meditation. Anie celebrated her Birthday at the Ashram and so did Priti di, Ashram painter and friend of the Center's.
January 2000:
January 1st: The New Millenium was greeted at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry with an early morning meditation at 5 am to the notes of Sunil-da's 1972 New Year music. A celestial atmosphere was in the air, heralding the arrival of the century of integration.
January 6: On this day of the anniversary of the Sri Aurobindo International Center of Education, Debashish presented a slide show in the School's video room on Abanindranath Tagore's paintings and later, in the evening, Anie and Amrita presented an East-West program of songs, including Bengali renditions of Rabindranath Tagore's mystic invocations and some of Sri Aurobindo's poems set to music.
By January 10, all the Center's members had returned to L.A. and the activities of the Center were back in full swing.
February 2000:
February 2nd: The birthday of Champaklal, dedicated disciple and attendant of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, whom the Mother had nicknamed "my lion", was celebrated at the Center with an inauguration of a portrait of Chapaklal by the ashram artist Supriya-di, readings from "Champaklal's Visions" and a special meditation at Sri Aurobindo's Relics, which had been decked with flowers for the purpose. The inspiring examples of yogis and sadhaks like Champaklal are an invaluable aid to the practice of Sri Aurobindo's yoga and it was our pleasure to honor his life and everlasting memory.
February 20: The Mother's Birthday (February 21) was celebrated at 4:30 pm on Sunday, February 20 with readings, songs and chants followed by a collective meditation around Sri Aurobindo's Relics. Some of the readings for this celebration are reproduced in the present issue.
February 21: On Mother's Birthday, we had a visit from Ila Zadrozny, a prominent ex-member from Auroville. Ila addressed members of the Center in the evening on the experience of living at Auroville and sparked a lively discussion based on her comments.
February 27: The Birthday of Auroville (Feb. 28th) and the anniversary of the Supramental manifestation on earth (Feb. 29th) were jointly celebrated on this Sunday afternoon with readings and Mother's organ music and voice followed by a collective meditation. Among the attendees was Connie Buckley, a long-time devotee of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, an ex-Director of the Foundation of World Education and one of the present Directors of Matagiri.
This brings us to the end of our news section for now. Stay in touch and join us in aspiration for manifesting Mother's endless treasures.