For some who discover the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, the question arises – can this be done without the presence of a living master? And the fact that both the Masters have departed from the physical strikes deep at the roots of credibility. Moreover, one immediately discovers that They left behind no successors – no head of the ashram willing to take over the spiritual responsibility of ferrying followers across to the distant golden shore which They have affirmed. It makes things no better to read the words of Sri Aurobindo "On Himself": "In this discipline, the inspiration of the Master, and in the difficult stages his control and his presence are indispensable – for it would be impossible otherwise to go through it without much stumbling and error which would prevent all chance of success. The Master is one who has risen to a higher consciousness and being and he is often regarded as its manifestation or representative. He not only helps by his teaching and still more by his influence and example but by a power to communicate his own experience to others." [On Himself, 97]

Where, today, is the presence and the control, the influence and the direct ocmmunication of experience? The ashram and Auroville continue to swell with increasing numbers and the message of a transformed humanity grows ever more pressing as an exploding grandiose technology proceeds to shape our lives unpredictably. But where are the living Masters and the inviolate Force-Field of their Realization? In the midst of the ever-tightening materialism of a swiftly homogenizing world, where can we find that oasis of repose where the inner life may unfold unhindered, the movements leading to superhumanity be our sole preoccupation, undisturbed by the constant need to parry the lunges of an ubiquitous war? Is there a guidance, a presence we can count on in these trying hours, when we most sorely need the supramental panacea of which the Masters have spoken?

The key is the realization that the Masters have not merely spoken. They have achieved. The yoga of Sri Aurobindo is more literally the yoga of Sri Aurobindo than we can at first imagine – indeed, it is Sri Aurobindo’s personal Yoga. For indeed this yoga, pioneered in the twin persons of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, ascending to and descending with the power of the Supermind has today encompassed the world. If Agastya, defying death, drank the ocean in a bygone age, we may extend the audacious metaphor and say that Sri Aurobindo today has swallowed up the earth. In the Agenda, the Mother explains this: the only way to solve the problem of the world is to become the world and to then apply the Divine Consciousness to it. Today the warring and careworn earth is the body of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother; every incident within it and in our everyday lives an occassion to invoke Their dynamic yogic action, to participate in their personal world-transforming movement. The presence of the Masters is everywhere and Their constant control the very thing we are called upon to awaken to in our lives, for our consciousness is our collaboration. In this new phase of the world-yoga, no more is the living guru merely outside us, bound in a human frame; He/She is living inside and outside, here and everywhere, all at once. It is to this world-manifestation of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, outside of which we can no longer have any existence, that we dedicate the light, Jyoti, of our present awakening; Them we seek out within and without, just as They seek us out, Their children, participants in Their eternal Play in a Supramental Earth, constituted entirely of their Conscious Material.

Two Darshans have intervened between the last issue of Jyoti and the present one. The Mother's Final Arrival at Pondicherry represents the potent union f the Ishwara and Shakti, but also exemplifies for us the power of an absolute surrender to the Divine. Under Themes, we focus on the Mother's Prayers embodying this surrender when dealing with this Darshan day and on the Guru in the section on Sri Aurobindo's Birthday. Passages from Savitri, relating the inner life of the Mother to Savitri and that of Sri Aurobindo to Ashwapathy are also carried here. Birthdays of the Center and of our founder, Jyotipriya are given attention as are Birthdays in general, with quotes from the Mother on receptivity during these special days. We also continue our focus on Aromatherapy, Music and Birthdays with quotes from the Mother on these subjects, while the passing of a long-standing member of the Center was the prompting to carry some quotes by the Masters on Death and the appropriate response of the living to it.

In the Creative section, the thematic focus on Aromatherapy is extended through a recipe featuring raw fruits and essential oils. Here, we also continue our serialization of Manoj Das' adaptations of Indian fables, with the tale of the Last Demoness; and feature a number of paintings by the eminent artist from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Priti Ghosh.

The Articles section also extends the Themes, by carrying excerpts from Jyotipriya's diary, speaking of her visit to Pondicherry for Sri Aurobindo's Birth centenary in 1972; and by presenting an article by Mangesh Nadkarni on the inner identity of Sri Aurobindo and Ashwapathy as Sri Aurobindo delineates his character in his telling of Savitri. We also continue serializing the interviews of Two Nonagenarians from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram taken by Anie Nunnaly, this time showcasing the engineer Udar Pinto. A feature, by Richard Carlson, on the aspiration of jazz innovator John Coltrane, marries Aurobindonian and postmodern interpretive views in the exploration of a spiritual aesthetic in modern music.

Under Reviews, we carry a discussion, by Michael Miovic, on a biographical study of the early American President, John Adams, comparing his social views to those of Thomas Jefferson and Sri Aurobindo. We also feature here two reviews by Amrita Banerji, of outstanding Indian classical music concerts by sibling duos from India, sponsored by the Center.

Under Studies, we continue presenting interpretive summaries of the study groups on The Life Divine, Savitri and On Education, held at the center on Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays respectively. The continuing music programs, special events, guests and celebrations at the Center find expression in the News, Events and People sections. Circulations continues to be the spiritual market-place of community exchange and Projects outlines the continuing collective operations of the Sri Aurobindo Center of L.A. Apart from the ongoing projects, this issues features the Center's physical renovation drive.

We look forward to your emailed comments. As before, Volume 2, Issue 1 is being removed from the site, but will be available (as will other past issues) to anyone interested on a disk or as email attachment in .zip form for $5 (include an additional $2 if you prefer snail mail). We hope you find here rich food for the soul.