EVENTS

 

 

Regular Events
Weekly studies in the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother collective meditations, and monthly special events.
 
June 19 - 25:
Dr.and Mrs. Nadkarni's visit to the Center : It was after 30 years that this couple returned to Los Angeles. Though Dr. Nadkarni has been frequenting Los Angeles for the past few years, his wife, Mrs. Meera Nadkarni was last here 30 years ago when she was studying History in UCLA while her husband was doing his PhD. in Linguistics from the same University. Soon they became young parents for the first time and shortly after Dr. Nadkarni's completion of studies, they returned to India. Providence has brought back the Nadkarnis to LA after three decades.
 Dr. Nadkarni's schedule of talks at the Center were as follows:
 Monday - Wednesday and Friday June 19, 20, 21 & 23 (8 pm - 9:30 pm)
    Savitri, Book VI, Canto II - The Way of Fate and the Problem of
    Pain :- A 3-day lecture series focusing on a critical phase
    of Savitri's life and yoga, which makes for a discussion of the
    fundamentals of free-will, fate, evil, evolution and the mission
    of the Avatar and carrying the prophecy of the Mother's Victory.
   
Saturday - Sunday, June 24 & 25 (4:30-6 pm)     Death and Immortality: The Real Issues :- Another 3-lecture series     focusing on physical death and the promise of immortality     in Sri Aurobindo and the Mother's teaching, drawing out the         relative priorities and progressions of the yogic process.
Dr. Nadkarni explained that in the canto of 'The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain' - from Sri Aurobindo's Savitri, Savitri has returned home to tell her parents about her decision to marry Satyavan and encounters Narad there. The latter predicts that Satyavan has only 1 more year to live. Despite this, Savitri is unbending with her choice. So she knows her fate and is prepared to bear the pain unto herself. There are wonderful poetic passages here of Savitri's mother, the queen of Madra, heartbroken about her dughter's choice, asking Narad about this manifestation - its purpose and relationship with God. If this world was made by God, she asks, then why is there suffering, falsehood, etc.? Narad's response is that God made this world his opposite in order to know what He is not first and then gradually awaken to the truth of what He is. This canto also addresses the issues of 'karma' and free will. All this was explained clearly, in simple language, with interesting analogies by Dr. Nadkarni.
The second series of lectures was on Death and Immortality. Here, we learned that 'immotality' as Sri Aurobindo defines it, is not merely of the body but of 'consciousness'. These lectures were very interesting from the scientific standpoint as well, since Dr. N. brought in a lot of Biological facts and co-related them with experiments that the Mother did on Her own physical substance - as per the Agenda records. He spoke about the cells being intrinsically immortal as is. But when aggregated to form organisms, due to structural constraints and interdependent cell-to-cell interactions, they become bound by the laws of mortality. That is why Mother said that Death is a bad habit and that the Supramental being will have an altogether different bodily structure and metabolism.
 
8 June, 7-9 pm:
AUROVILLE LAND FUND RAISING DINNER:
The Auroville Land Fund Raising Dinner was held on 8th. of June 2000 at Bravo, - an Italian Restaurant, in Santa Monica, owned by the Lepore brothers, Peter and Ernest and organised by Anie Nunnally, one of the pioneers of Auroville:
About 40+ people attended the event in support of its intent. The Sri Aurobindo community of Los Angeles was well represented. Also, an Auroville-resident by the name of Ricardo arrived that very day.
The event started with a "silent auction", with beautiful background keyboard music played by Anie. June Maher (AVI USA representative) welcomed all at the door and handed out bidder numbers for the auction. Amrita helped to set up the auction tables. There were all kinds of aesthetic Auroville products starting from little uncut gem-stones, scarves and stationary to large hammocks, skirts, wall-hangings, paintings, sculptures and jewelry. The attendees went around the auction table making their bids on forms placed next to each item. At this time, hors-d'oeuvres and refreshments were served. This lasted for about an hour and a half, after which dinner was served. The menu consisted of a freshly tossed vegetable salad, 'satwic' ashram 'dal', an entree choice between salmon, risotto mushroom or capellini with veges. and an artistically presented dessert medley of ice-cream puff, chocolate roll, fruit sorbet, etc... and beverages of choice. A flutist played hypnotically in the background. Peter gave a brief informative speech on Auroville's land and the need to purchase as much as possible. Further bidding was encouraged. After dinner, the winners of the auction were announced. Mario and Elizabeth were the grand winners of the auction. Quite a good number of items got sold. The remaining items will be kept at Bravo for the next few months for continued auction and sale. There will also be a follow-up web-site and email list created to facilitate fund-raising for land-purchases at Auroville.
 Overall, it was a successful evening - with much festivity, concord, warmth and generosity. About $5000 was raised - enough to buy an acre of land.
 
 
 
August 15, 4:30-6 pm:
Observance of Sri Aurobindo's Birthday with readings, chanting, singing and meditation around the Relics of Sri Aurobindo
 
 
 
October 14, 8 - 10 pm:
Sitar concert by Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee, accompanied on tabla by Shri Abhijit Banerjee. Pandit Mukherjee is one of the foremost exponents of sitar from India today. His performance is an offering to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.