As intimated earlier, the Center's premises are presently going through a renovation process with painting of the exterior and changing of carpets and drapes. Voluntary expert help from friends from Phoenix, Arizona, has made this possible, but expenditures to the tune of several hundred dollars have been incurred and more is expected, so any donations are welcome.

Other property-related projects for the future:

• Indoor painting of the walls.
• Upgrading of furniture.
• Ongoing projects of house maintenance, room cleaning, etc.

The garden provides us with ongoing projects of maintenance and renovation. Both in front and behind the building, the garden areas have been designed by Richard Alexander, a professional landscape architect whose voluntary services for the Mother have transformed with beauty the Center's surroundings. The upkeep of these areas is in the care of Dorian Schneidman, whose painstaking care in planting, watering, fertilizing and weeding is a day-to-day labor of love. The plants, mostly perrenial, some annual, have been selected and arranged keeping Mother's Messages in mind. They include the principal varieties of hibiscus marked for the twelve powers of the Mother at the Matrimandir gardens and a Mother's mandala garden, with the petals filled in with flowers from the color symbolism of Mother's symbol. At this time, Spring planting is in progress and the replacement of dead grasses around our lotus pool. Gardening help from anyone in the L.A. area would be appreciated and funds towards planting and upkeep are always a necessity.

The Center houses a number of precious materials, establishing the historical link with the physical lives of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, many ashramites who have had close connections with us and Jyotipriya. These materials include letters, notes, photographs, unpublished and out-of-print literature, signed books and photos and objects used by the above-mentioned people. Amrita Banerji, Manjari De, Dr. Prasun De and Diana Arias are all involved in the archiving tasks, which include the care, preservation and display of these rare articles. Under these "archivists of the Beyond" also is the Stamp Collection project, inspired by the Mother's stamp collection and the department in charge of this function at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. We have stamps for exchange and are always in need of contributions towards archival supplies.

The Center houses Jyotipriya's Oriental Research library, a collection of valuable and rare books on Sri Aurobindo and on Indian Studies. An ongoing project to catalog these books on computer is in progress, headed by Barbara Dave, a librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library. Our aim here is to be able to make this computerized catalog eventually available on the internet. At the same time, the library is in the process of expansion, trying to incorporate selectively from the explosion of scholarly publishing on South Asian Studies that has occurred in the last decade. Then there is the work of preservation and book-binding, some of which is handled by Amrita and for some we have to seek outside help. Any contributions towards the library are welcome.

The Center houses a small book and gift-shop, carrying a large selection of books from the Sri Aurobindo ashram and gifts such as calendars, photos and prints of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, ashram incense, wearable art, art cards from India, Indian Classical music CDs, jewelry etc. These items are also mail ordered and distributed to other retailers. Ongoing projects of shipping, purchasing, marketing, improving displays etc. are in process, for which we are always happy to have both manual and financial help.

We organize U.S. tours and local concerts for Indian Classical and devotional musicians, following the criteria of (a) Devotion, admiration and/or discipleship to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother; (b) Expression of both high level of perfection and creative originality; (c) Power to raise the consciousness; (d) Spirit of service to the Divine. An interchange with the world of Music is thus set up, which has enriched our lives with the beauty of the gandharva worlds and the lives of the musicians with the divine influence of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Several of the musicians hosted by the Center have gone on to visit the Sri Aurobindo ashram and offer their music there. Organizing tours and concerts and hosting the musicians are ongoing projects, largely undertaken by Debashish and Amrita Banerji and Anie Nunnally. The work includes public relations, publicity, clockwork co-ordination, concert arrangements and hosting. Sales of musical tapes and CDs are an offshoot activity of these music programs.

We are also involved in experimental music production projects at the Center. Behind these projects presently are Anie Nunnally, who has set some of Sri Aurobindo's poems into music, Amrita, Carl Fornander, an excellent tabla player and Richard Alexander, both a creative electronic composer and a skilful recording engineer and sound editor.

Projected purchases:

• DAT recorder.

The Center continues to invite guests steeped in the insights of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother to share their consciousness with us and with other groups in the U.S. Prof. Madhusudan Reddy, Dr. Maheshwari. Prof. Manoj Das, Prof. Arabinda Basu and now, Dr. Mangesh Nadkarni, have all been invitees of the center, who have come to the U.S. and imparted their special quality and knowledge to different groups here. Co-ordination and hosting activities support these tours. To make it possible for us to continue bringing speakers as part of Mother's global "exchange program", we seek your financial help for our Speaker's fund.

The computer at the Center is the heart of much of its action. Established in 1991, on a modest scale, through a grant from the FWE, the computer system has grown in power to take primacy in the multifold co-ordination and publicity activities in process. Making flyers, designing book, tape and CD jackets, and laying out the web site are all carried out from this computer. On the hardware side, the computer equipment is cared for and upgraded by Ashok Bose, while Debashish and Dr. De take the lead in most of the software projects. Much more can be done through help from those who can use the graphics and WWW design capabilities of the computer. Funds for computer upgrades are also always necessary.

Projected upgrades:

• Laser printer
• CD creation software (we already have the burner)
• Higher quality sound board
• Music editing software