Explorations towards a New Creation of the Society

The Awakening Ray

The Gnostic Centre brings out a journal focused on self-development, called 'The Awakening Ray' (since 1997). Each issue focuses on a new theme relevant for application of Integral Yoga concepts in one's daily life and work.

Current Issue : Vedas: a promise for the future (online)

Editorial : Ameeta Mehra
The Awakening Ray : Sri Aurobindo
Unveiling the Veda: Sri Aurobindo
The Three Creations : Vladimir Yatsenko
Night and Dawn : Vladimir Yatsenko
Lost Herds of Light & Angirasa Rishis : Sri Aurobindo
The Promise of the Vedic Age: The Mother
An Introduction to the Vedas : Nolini Kanta Gupta

Recent Events WORKSHOPS 

29th January EDUCOMP

Facilitated by Ameeta Mehra and Vladimir Yatsenko 

6th December GARDENING FOR BEAUTY & THERAPY

Facilitated by Mr. Satish Mathur 

21st November LEADING THE CHANGE

Facilitated by Anuradha & Roohi Kapur 

14th November EVOKING YOUR CHILD'S TRUE POTENTIAL

Facilitated by Anuradha & Roohi Kapur 

7th November AIM OF LIFE

Facilitated by Ameeta Mehra 

25th October HARNESSING THE POWER OF NATURE

Facilitated by Mr. Satish Mathur 

24th October THE WILL TO LEARN

Facilitated by Anuradha & Roohi Kapur 

20th September THE GREEN EDGE

Facilitated by Satish Mathur 

13th September NURTURING YOUR CHILD'S NEEDS

Facilitated by Anuradha & Roohi Kapur 

PROGRAMMES & COURSES 

08th February onwards

THE UPANISHADS IN THE LIGHT OF SRI AUROBINDO

Online PG Certificate programme (16 credits, 6 months) by ICIS:

Course 1: Isha & Kena Upanishads
Course 2: Aitareya & Taittiriya Upanishads
Course 3: Research Practicum in the Upanishads
accredited by IGNOU; facilitator: Vladimir Yatsenko

(This course is 6 credits, 2 months) 

08th February onwards

AN INTRODUCTION TO INTEGRAL STUDIES: KEY PERSPECTIVES

FROM THE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO & THE MOTHER

Online Pre-requisite Course (4 credits, 2 months) by ICIS:

online, accredited by IGNOU; facilitator: Monica Gupta

(This course is a part of the PG Certificate programme for those without a prior background in Integral Studies) 

TALKS 21-26 January

HYMNS TO SURYA-SAVITRI

by Vladimir Yatsenko 

17 January MEDICINAL USES OF TREES & PLANTS - NEEM, PEEPUL & BANYAN

by Dr. Shashibala 

20-24 December KENA UPANISHAD

by Prof. Chandrasekhar Rath 

12 December MEDICINAL USES OF TREES & PLANTS - GOOLAR, AMLA, HABISCUS & HARSRINGAR

by Dr. Shashibala 

8th August OUR TIMES & SRI AUROBINDO'S VISION

by Prof. Manoj Das 

CLASSES & STUDY CIRCLES

'Explorations towards a New Creation of the Society (Wednesdays 6.00-7.00pm) by Ameeta Mehra' study circles are being held every Wednesday, 6.00pm to 7.00pm) (facilitator: Ameeta Mehra)

'Savitri: A Legend & a Symbol' study circles are being held every Saturday, 9.00am to 10.00am) (facilitator: Ameeta Mehra)

FITNESS CLASSES 

7th February FOLK & STREET GAMES OF INDIA 5-10 YEARS OLD by Durjee 

24th January FOLK & STREET GAMES OF INDIA 5-10 YEARS OLD by Durjee 

20th December ADVENTURE ACTIVITIES FOR 5-10 YEARS OLD by Durjee 

6th December ADVENTURE ACTIVITIES FOR 5-10 YEARS OLD by Durjee 

SPECIAL EVENTS 

28th March GNOSTIC CENTRE ANNIVERSARY

Short film on 'new perspectives in higher education', display of ICIS online courses fallowed by Meditation 

21st February THE MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY: Darshan day Meditation 

5th December SRI AUROBINDO'S MAHASAMADHI DAY Meditation 

17th November Mother's Mahasamadi Day Meditation 

15th August SRI AUROBINDO'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS 'Savitri' reading & Special Meditation

Maltz's patients often had expectations that were not satisfied by plastic surgery

Maltz found that his plastic surgery patients often had expectations that were not satisfied by the surgery, so he pursued a means of helping them set the goal of a positive outcome through visualization of that positive outcome.^[3] Maltz became interested in why setting goals works. He learned that the power of self-affirmation and mental visualisation techniques used the connection between the mind and the body. He specified techniques to develop a positive inner goal as a means of developing a positive outer goal. This concentration on inner attitudes is essential to his approach, as a person's outer success can never rise above the one visualized internally.^[1]

Psycho-Cybernetics [Wikipedia] is a classic self-help book, written by Maxwell Maltz in 1960 and published by the non-profitPsycho-Cybernetics Foundation.^[1] Motivational and self-help experts in personal development, including Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy have based their techniques on Maxwell Maltz. Many of the psychological methods of training eliteathletes are based on the concepts in Psycho-Cybernetics as well.^[2] The book combines the cognitive behavioral technique of teaching an individual how to regulate self-concept developed by Prescott Lecky with the cybernetics ofNorbert Wiener and John von Neumann. The book defines the mind-body connection as the core in succeeding in attaining personal goals.^[3]

Maxwell Maltz (March 10, 1899^[1] – April 7, 1975^[2]) was an American cosmetic surgeon and author who developed Psycho-Cybernetics, a system of ideas through which, he claimed, one could improve one's self-image and, in turn, lead a more successful and fulfilling life.^[3] He wrote several books, among which Psycho-Cybernetics (1960) was a long-time bestseller that influenced many subsequent self-help teachers.^[4][5][6] His orientation toward a system of ideas that will provide self help is considered the forerunner of the many self help books that have now become so popular.^[7]

Maltz graduated with a doctorate in medicine from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1923.^[2]

Psycho-Cybernetics: A New Way to Get More Living out of Life was first published in 1960 by Prentice-Hall and first appeared in a pocket book edition in 1969. The book introduced Maltz's view that a person must have an accurate and positive view of one's self before setting goals, otherwise he or she will get stuck in a continuing pattern of limiting beliefs. His ideas focus on visualizing one's goals. He believed that self-image is the cornerstone of all the changes that take place in a person. If one's self-image is unhealthy, or faulty, all of his or her efforts will end in failure.^[3]

Maltz also wrote fiction, including a play called Unseen Scar (1946)^[8] and a novel, The Time is Now (1975)^[9]. His autobiography, Doctor Pygmalion: The Autobiography of a Plastic Surgeon (1953)^[10], was popular and influential,^[11] being discussed in many subsequent books on body and identity.^[12] It was re-titled Doctor Psycho-Cybernetics after his self-help work was published.

Although the book Psycho-Cybernetics was first published in 1960, as of 2008 the book is one of 50 recommended in the book “50 Self-Help Classics".^[13]

Birkhoff, Whitehead, and Synge; Weyl, Eddington, and Dirac

*Cosmos* from Marginal Revolution by Tyler Cowen

The author is John North and the subtitle is An Illustrated History of Astronomy and Cosmology.  Excerpt:

Other alternatives to Einstein's general theory of relativity were the theories of gravitation developed by G.D. Birkhoff, A.N. Whitehead, and J.L. Synge.  All of them had cosmological implications.  They were symptomatic of a period of great intellectual vitality.  They were no doubt partly motivated by a desire to create something comparable with what Einstein had produced.  Some ideas of a very different kind were then being put forth by Hermann Weyl, Eddington, and Dirac -- the first two in 1930, and Dirac in 1937-38.  They seemed to many to be suggesting that cosmological observation was superfluous, and that all could be deducted from the constants of physics.  Eddington, for instance, thought that all the dimensionless constants (pure numbers) obtained by suitably multiplying and dividing powers of the constants of physics -- the mass of a proton, the charge on an electron, and so forth -- turn out to be close to unity, or of the order of 10 raised to the power 79.  This vast number he thought might characterize the number of particles in the universe. 

This is a truly splendid history of science book, especially if you are snowed in for a weekend.  It has plenty of material on the early history of astronomy and on the one topic I know something about -- the Aztecs -- it seems very good to me and very accurate.

Mechanosphere

Digital Individuations from Larval Subjects by larvalsubjects

I have often argued that the task of philosophy is to think the present. In my recent interview I observed that philosophy cannot proceed without its others. These two issues are interrelated. In striving to think the present, philosophy strives to think the differential of its time and of a life that requires new conceptual creations seeking to comprehend the real of reality. If there is a greatness to Marx and his historical materialism, it is in the manner in which he strives to think the present. When Marx analyzes, for example, the factory and the working day, the aim is not simply to engage in a moralistic exercise of denouncing exploitation.

No, Marx is no Luddite, nor is he a moralist. He is not a Luddite because his aim is not to return us to a prior form of pastoral social organization. He is not a moralist because he does not begin with a set of pre-defined, a priori normative values, but instead seeks to determine how particular sets of values emerge out of the organization of the historical moment. Rather, while Marx sniffs out forms of alienation and exploitation in these new forms of social organization, he also seeks to determine the affordances or potentials that have been rendered available as a result of how bodies are individuated or formed within these new machines.

For example, Marx argues that the factory disciplines the worker and forms a collective organization that affords the possibility of a revolutionary overturning current regime of production. The factory is not simply a site of alienation and exploitation for Marx, but is a milieu of individuation that forms a new type of body and subjectivity that opens the possibility of a new social order.

I think this sort of analysis is what is missing in a number of the conservative critiques of the new technology. Rather than lamenting the manner in which people are not good readers and writers in the way they were fifty years ago– which is much like lamenting the manner in which workers are not like feudal peasants, i.e., apples and oranges –we should instead seek to determine the new individuations that are taking place within this mechanosphere, the emergent forms of subjectivity, the new structures of cognition, and the new affordances for very different ways of living.

Thursday, July 23, 2009 Interview with Levi R. Bryant
Today we interview Levi R. Bryant, author of Difference and Givenness: Deleuze’s Transcendental Empiricism and the Ontology of Immanence and co-editor (along with Graham Harman and Nick Srnicek of the forthcoming The Speculative Turn: Continental Materialism and Realism. Many of you will also know Levi from his excellent blog Larval Subjects.

I thus think there are two Heidegger’s. There is the Heidegger that went very far in the deconstruction of ontotheology and what I like to call the “little demiurge” or the sovereign subject, but there is also this other Heidegger that seems to perpetually recoil from this destitution, striving to discover some new ground, meaning, or identity. This has led to a lot of mischief both in his own life and in subsequent engagements with his work. For example, technology studies have been pushed back a great deal as a result of his moralizing and Luddite attitude towards enframing. anotherheideggerblog

Pride characterizes modern life

Nietzsche’s Prophetic Voice Still Speaks

from Per Caritatem by Cynthia R. Nielsen

On a close, non-literal reading of the text, Nietzsche’s madman is not rejoicing in the death of God but is deeply troubled by it. As he says, “We have killed him-you and I. All of us are his murders. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon?’” What does Nietzsche mean by horizon, and what happens when the horizon is erased? A horizon carves out a space for vision. Or you might say the horizon creates a space within which we can live because it sets a boundary of sorts for what we can see. So what happens when I “wipe away the entire horizon?” I destroy the very boundaries that define human existence. Again, the madman does not take joy in this situation. Rather, he is describing where we are in history, what we’ve become as a society. We are a people who think we don’t need God; we’ve become, as Nietzsche says explicitly, a prideful people. In fact, pride characterizes modern life (and a good bit of postmodern life as well)...

According to Nietzsche, we’ve become prideful in a number of ways. First of all, we built grander and grander conceptual edifices (what Nietzsche poetically calls, “columbaria”) that lead us away from the forces of life and toward a culture of death. We forget that our metaphors have lowly origins and believe that our columbaria are impenetrable. Having such great confidence in the progress of modern science, we believe that with enough time we can even overcome death. In such an environment, Nietzsche asks, who needs faith? We have denied our finitude, have made ourselves gods; thus, practically speaking God is dead. The madman laments this situation. Do we? Or do we continue by the way we live our lives to confirm Nietzsche’s prophetic judgment? Я виновна, as the Russians say.

On Early and Late Derrida

from Critical Animal by Scu

As the question of the animal intensifies in Derrida's thought we see a continued distance being placed between Derrida and Heidegger, and so often and repeatedly over the question of the animal (from the 1968 The Ends of Man, to his 2001-2002 lectures The Sovereign and the Beast). And if we are to take Derrida at his word, that the most fundamental disavowal for him is the disavowal of the animal, then it should come as no surprise to us that his more political and ethical writings should become more central in his work at the same time that the question of the animal enters his work with a stronger and greater frequency. The argument here isn't just that you can't understand Derrida without understanding his work on animals, though that is part of my argument, it is also that you can't understand the specific shift of his work away from a strong heideggerianism and towards a strong political and ethical focus without understanding the way the question of the animals plays in the economy of Derrida's writing.

Marc speaking about the Earth Days in Auroville

From the Earth to our soul Written by Marlenka & Mas Friday, 17 April 2009

Today's news features an excerpt of an interview with Marc speaking about the Earth Days in Auroville. The Earth Day, celebrated over the world April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It is held annually during both spring in the northern hemisphere and autumn in the southern hemisphere. Mentioned also in the news: a live jazz concert coming up, tango class and practice every week and, guest speakers to be heard at Savitri Bhavan. AurovilleRadio

The core and its connections

About the Earth's Core
By Andrew Alden, See More About: structure of the earth core of the earth geomagnetism

A century ago, science barely knew that the Earth even has a core. Today we are tantalized by the core and its connections with the rest of the planet. Indeed, we're at the start of a golden age of core studies... Our main tool for core research has been earthquake waves, especially those from large events like the 2004 Sumatra quake. The ringing "normal modes," which make the planet pulsate with the sort of motions you see in a large soap bubble, are useful for examining large-scale deep structure.

***

Inner core
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Earth's core)

The inner core of the Earth, its innermost layer as detected by seismological studies, is a primarily solid sphere about 1,220 km (758 mi) in radius, only about 70% that of the Moon. It is believed to consist of an iron-nickel alloy, and it may be hotter than the Sun's surface[1].

The superorganism has castes; Individuals are automatons

The Superorganism from Marginal Revolution by Tyler Cowen
The subtitle is The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies and that is the new book by Bert Hölldobler and Edmund O. Wilson... Here is a New York Times review of the book [By STEVE JONES
Published: November 21, 2008]

Hölldobler and Wilson’s central conceit is that a colony is a single animal raised to a higher level. Each insect is a cell, its castes are organs, its queens are its genitals, the wasps that stung me are an equivalent of an immune system. In the same way, the foragers are eyes and ears, and the colony’s rules of development determine its shape and size. The hive has no brain, but the iron laws of cooperation give the impression of planning. Teamwork pays; in a survey of one piece of Amazonian rain forest, social insects accounted for 80 percent of the total biomass, with ants alone weighing four times as much as all its mammals, birds, lizards, snakes and frogs put together. The world holds as much ant flesh as it does that of humans.

Karl von Frisch, discoverer of the famous waggle dance of the honey bee, said in the 1930s that “the life of bees is like a magic well. The more you draw from it, the more there is to draw.” Plenty of excellent science still springs from that source, and Wilson and Hölldobler gather some classics here. How does an ant work out how far it is back to the nest? Simple: by counting its steps. Glue stilts onto its legs as it sets out and it will pace out into the wilds; take them off and it will walk only part of the way back.

The superorganism has castes, based not on genetic differences but — like our own social classes — on the environment in which they are brought up. Sometimes, a chemical message does the job, but cold and starvation can be just as effective at condemning an individual to a humble life as a worker.

A few simple rules produce what appears to be intelligence, but is in fact entirely mindless. Individuals are automatons. An ant stumbles on a tasty item and brings a piece back to the nest, wandering as it does and leaving a trail of scent. A second ant tracks that pathway back to the source, making random swerves of its own. A third, a fourth, and so on do the same, until soon the busy creatures converge on the shortest possible route, marked by a highway of pheromones. This phenomenon has some useful applications for the social animals who study it. Computer scientists fill their machines with virtual ants and task them with finding their way through a maze, leaving a coded signal as they pass until the fastest route emerges.

Too much time spent on introversion could lead to depression and lack of spontaneity, joy, and gaiety

Discovering one's own golden mean
K. VIJAYARAGHAVAN, ET, 17 Nov 2008

The term ‘golden mean’, according to Chambers dictionary means “moderation, a middle way between extremes.” An ancient Tamil proverb also notes that even the elixir of life (amrita) can become poison, if taken in excess.

Doubtless, life has to be marked by dynamism, extroversion and action but too much of these could also be damaging. Similarly, too much of ‘take it easy’ attitude or even reflection and introspection could lead to stagnation, with life drifting away without any tangible accomplishment.

The ceaseless and excessive dynamism of the warriors of Ulysses (Odysseus) and also their subsequent metamorphosis to lethargy and introversion, as portrayed by Tennyson, would suggest that there should be a golden mean between these extremes.

The ‘middle path’ concept, centred on finding the right ‘golden mean’, for sustained excellence, as applicable to each aspirant, would eventually depend on individual nature and needs. However, certain broad, practical and time-tested concepts in evolving this could serve as guidelines.

Those habituated to a busy bee life in search of fruits — they themselves may not be sure of and pushing themselves to near physical and psychological burn out — would do well to remember that all their activities would become counterproductive unless tempered with moments of needed reflection, solitude, relaxation and meditation.

Similarly the dreamer and one involving himself continually with substantial reflection, analysis and meditative exercises would also be benefited through forays into activities calling for dynamism and physical exercises marked by zest and exhilaration. In fact, too much time spent on such acts of introversion could also become counterproductive, leading to depression and lack of spontaneity, joy, and gaiety.

Research on depressed and schizophrenic patients has revealed that ‘work therapy’ and involvement with dynamic activities often work where passive counselling, analysis and even medication could fail. Indeed, work is worship. The business of life, if it were to be fulfilling, is to get on with it with briskness and natural ease, not cluttered by perceived ideas of excessive introspection, etc.

This natural approach could often prove to be the right sadhana for inner purification. Doubtless, the crux of all true accomplishment lies in discovering for oneself his own workable ‘golden mean’ and to build his dreams on this stable foundation!

Sharing as social exchange was a social construct, never a biological adaptation

Why economists should study the origins of bargaining?
from Adam Smith's Lost Legacy by Gavin Kennedy
European Association of Evolutionary Political Economy,
Rome, November 2008
The Pre-History of Bargaining: a multi-disciplinary treatment (Part 1) [i]
© Gavin Kennedy (Heriot-Watt University)

The whole point of the quasi-bargain was to share the spoils between the catchers and the matrifocal family. Therefore there had to be a social mechanism to ensure that the chasers shared with the non-chasers, otherwise individuals and the group faced local extinction. In a Darwinian sense, the individual may not care about the group (natural selection works on the individual not the group) but an individual had to care about the fate of some minimum number of other individuals if he was to achieve his own survival goals. A chase was more successful if it was conducted by several of the most fleet-footed individuals, backed by the best stone toolmakers and the bravest perimeter skirmishers and pickets who warded of rival predators. A race with each other it was not.

To succeed in worthwhile scavenging the Ancients had to discover that there was safety in numbers and how to make noise near the carcass to ward off intruders. Scavenging induced co-operation, supported by stronger-willed enforcers. It also induced stone-tool creation and use. While predators were busy in a stand-off, or a snarling fight, the scavengers had time to risk a sneak snatch at whatever meat they could get. On such occasions their stone cutting and scraping tools and their disciplined numbers gave them a small enough advantage. Chimpanzees in a display charge can chase off a leopard; several Ancients screaming in an aggressive charge, catching predators with accurately aimed heavy stones, waving heavy branches, beating a predator’s body with clubs, and generally creating mayhem, could drive off even fearsome predators, at least for a short while. Meanwhile, the cutters would get to work. Skilled and brave distracters were party to the quasi-bargain too.

In principle, gatherers shared most of what they gathered, killed or found. In principle, strong quasi-bargains within the band’s matrifocal families embraced them all.[xxvii] Did this mean they all pulled their weight together in whatever way they could best contribute? Probably not; they were as riven by the usual dissents found in any group of Homo before or since. When it ‘worked’ reasonably well, it was an evolutionary stable compact. But there were wide variations in the behaviours of the individuals whose co-operation was essential for it to ‘work.’ Groups fell apart when laggards predominated; they were destroyed by careless acts in the vicinity of predators; they were scattered by internal discord and, in consequence, survivors may have endured generations of misery.

Gathering plant food, insects, and small animals, was more reliable than relying on opportunistic scavenging. But gathering was subject to variability, which imposes a cycle, sometimes severe, of ‘feast or famine.’ Some variability was the ‘fault’ of the individual, such as a lack of skills, effort or learning, and sometimes it was bad luck, injury, illness, the chosen search pattern, or attacks by predators. Where there was variability, there was pressure for sharing among sociable hominids. With multi-lateral promiscuity, sharing whatever food was collected was a small but significant behavioural step for males from merely feeding themselves. Establishing the sex-for-food norm, and policing it effectively, took generations to evolve into a culture of sharing, with additional norms to cope with exceptions, to constrain selfish behaviours and to establish taboos that enforced the metanorms. Sharing undoubtedly enhances the survival of the individual amidst scarcity. Sharing as social exchange was a social construct, never a biological adaptation.[xxviii]

It arose directly from the psychology and practise of the quasi-bargain. If the Ancients suffered cycles of scarcity and abundance, and the cycles were asynchronous (while one individual enjoyed a feast, the other endured famine) a transfer of resources between each other to even-out the cycle proved beneficial (though that does not mean it always happened!). Over the cycle, sharers benefited. But could they co-operate despite the nature of their ‘prisoner’s dilemma problem (whether to do what was best for oneself or what was best for one’s partners and one’s self)? [xxix]

Frank Marlowe identified six useful distinctions between types of food sharing and by changing the order we glean its possible social-evolution:[xxx]

• Mutualism: food for foraging partners, particularly, but not exclusively, for kin;[xxxi]
• Tolerated scrounging (TS) - food for peace (sometimes known as ‘tolerated theft’);
• Costly signalling (CS) – ‘food for non-food benefits, such as sexual access’ -
• Reciprocity:
• Not-in-kind exchanges - ‘food A for food B’; [xxxii]
• In-kind exchanges with delayed reciprocity – ‘food now for same food later’ (e.g., human equivalent of bats with blood);[xxxiii]

Open, generous, equal, frank and kind

Health News The beauty of flowers
Naini’s Page Monday, September 17, 2007 12:4:37 IST Mind Matters

Have you been amongst flowers early in the morning? Or seen them facing the sun waiting its advent? Felt the aspiration that surges all around when watching a bud slowly open its petals one by one. Seen the earth after a few drops of rain and realise how the flowers like little multicolored hands come out in a gesture of thanks giving. Walked by a bush at night and smelt the beautiful fragrance of the raat-ki-rani. Wondered why flowers make you so happy, peaceful and filling you with joy and love?

Says Sri Aurobindo in Savitri: “The worlds senseless beauty mirrors gods delight its hued magnificence blooms in leaves and flowers.”

Flowers have been an intrinsic part of my life- my grandmother's vast collection of plants from around the world, dad's constant pottering in the garden, mother filling the house with marigolds, asters, rajnigandas and mogras, my aunt weaving garlands with all of us joining in, especially during functions and weddings. Starting my morning by picking up a beautiful champa from the ground, placing it behind one of my ears gives me immense pleasure.

The mother of Pondichery always said, “Be like a Flower”. 'They are open, generous, equal, frank and kind'. Do you know why?

• Open — to everything and everyone that surrounds it.
• Generous — without restrictions, dispels its very own perfume which it sacrifices entirely for our pleasure.
• Equal — It has no preference. Everyone can enjoy its beauty without rivalry.
• Kind — Its presence fills us with joy.
• Frank — It hides nothing of its beauty everyone can see what it is.

They are made an important part in the ashram life - teaching people the charm of silence and thus the self giving which demands nothing in return. Flowers have a spiritual significance and are extremely receptive. No wonder, flowers have charmed and attracted men and women alike. They have been associated with religion, love, myths, legends, deaths, remembrance. For they say it more profoundly than words representing peace, joy, purity, beauty aspiration, love humility, and surrender.

Cherish your flowers. Watch them bloom naturally or in a vase. Let them be till they are fresh, collect them when they are no longer and give them back to the earth for what it has given us or otherwise we will become poor. www.cybernoon.com/

If one pursues the quest, one would locate it — the source of all creativity

The human aspiration and integral yoga Wednesday August 20 2008 10:37 IST HEALTH
Manoj Das

THE aspiration often finds expression through our activities in the fields of art, literature, sculpture, music, dance, etc. But that does not stop there. It seeks the very source from which inspiration for such activities comes. If one pursues the quest, one would locate it — the source of all creativity.

The problem, however, is, by the time one locates that sublime source, the normal activities, the external demands of our gross life, assume a certain unreality, appear unsubstantial. As a consequence one tends to break away from the mundane life, pronouncing upon it the judgment that it was either false or illusory.

In other words, for centuries past, the spiritual path has been looked upon as a path opposite to the so called worldly way.But a deeper reflection would tell us that this vast and complex life could not have been conceived and allowed to flourish only to be abandoned by the enlightened. It has a purpose, it has a destination. One realises that however engrossed we may be in ignorance, we are nevertheless looking for knowledge; however we may be overwhelmed by sorrow and suffering, we are looking for delight.

Are these aspirations for light and delight vain? Did some unfathomably mighty power create this world and then forgot all about it, for it to ever rotate in darkness? Sri Aurobindo asserts that despite all signs to the contrary, a dynamic consciousness is unfolding itself gradually with all its splendours. True, with the unfolding of the manifold capacity of mind and intelligence, man has misused it in various ways.

While he has enriched life with a million inventions scientific and technological, he has also devised the terrible destructives. With the growth of intelligence, he has proved greater efficiency in corruption and hypocrisy.But such contradictory developments do not cancel the truth of the mind's growth. They only show that something greater than mind must control the activities of mind. A moral or ethical principle is too weak to give any spontaneous direction to mind towards its right use.There has to be a transformation, a qualitative change. In Sri Aurobindo’s own words,

“It is indeed as a result of our evolution that we arrive at the possibility of this transformation.As Nature has evolved beyond Matter and manifested Life, beyond Life and manifested Mind, so she must evolve beyond Mind and manifest a consciousness and power of our existence free from the imperfection and limitation of our mental existence, a Supramental or Truth-Consciousness and able to develop the power and perfection of the spirit.”

His Yoga, the Integral Yoga, shows the way. Manoj Das The author is a Padma awardee, recipient of the Saraswati Samman, Hon. D.Litt. from several universities and the Sahitya Akademi's highest honour, the Fellowship.

Scientists find two contradictory trends of change in the average global temperatures

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore Monday, May 5, 2008

The Mother and Sri Aurobindo on change in the global weather patterns

In the past decade we have been witness to dramatic upheaval in the weather patterns and climatic changes caused by “global warming”. We have had our share of Tsunamis, earthquakes, torrential rains, sweltering heat, forest fires, droughts, blizzards and what not. Recently in tropical Singapore there was a downpour of hail- or pieces of ice falling! The bizarre and weird weather is unpredictable and violent at times. The external forces causing this are changes in the solar radiation, and greenhouse gases and rising carbon-di-oxide levels to name a few. What are the other forces behind this?

More than seventy years ago Sri Aurobindo gave five indications to recognise the coming of the New world.

The third indication is of relevance here

“The vital is trying to lay hold on the physical as it never did before. It is always the sign that whenever the higher Truth is coming down, it throws up the hostile vital world on the surface, and you will see all sorts of abnormal vital manifestations such as an increase in the number of people who go mad, earth quakes etc “ (Beyond the Human Species - Georges Van Vrekhem)

Sraddalu Ranade observes, when asked what the first signs of change in Matter would be, The Mother pointed to two indications that the Supermind is working in Matter: change in human body and change in global weather patterns.

“Mother indicated that weather all over the world would become more temperate and the extremes of both heat and cold would become less intense, in practice the changes have been towards violent and unpredictable fluctuations of precisely such extremes all over the world. One may view this as a transitional period before the fluctuations even out into a steady average.It is interesting to observe that scientists find two contradictory trends of change in the average global temperatures: seen from satellites measuring changes in the upper atmosphere, the Earth seems to be cooling down, and seen from the ground, the Earth seems to be heating up. So is there global warming or global cooling? For the moment nobody is very sure about the answer: it depends on how you look at the data

Sraddhalu further observes that there is dramatic change in the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface, changes which have begun after the Supramental Manifestation. This explains the violent and extreme weather patterns all over the earth and the inner reason behind it. Nothing seems normal or fixed anymore, dramatic changes and upheavals all over the world and in the consciousness of people makes us aware of the Supramental Force working and tearing apart the “old and dying world”.

The Mother predicted on 14th March 1970

The change has been accomplished. The physical is able to receive the higher Light, the Truth, the true Consciousness. It is in the year 2000 that it will take a clear turn.

References: Service Letter- 30.1.2004 (Founder Editor: M.P. Pandit), Beyond the Human Species –Georges Van Vrekhem, Paragon House, St. Paul, Minnesota
Posted by Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore at 10:56 PM

Education of the whole person

Michael Murphy Helped Launch Human Potential Movement More Than 40 Years Ago
By Adam Phillips 23 April 2008

Michael Murphy is an author, intellectual and citizen-diplomat. He's also co-founder of California's Esalen Institute, which is widely regarded as the birthplace of the Human Potential Movement. VOA's Adam Phillips has a profile.

Michael Murphy had a passing acquaintance with Big Sur, California, the rugged area of Pacific coastline where, during his childhood, his family had owned some land with hot-spring mineral baths. But it was not until 1962, in his early 30s, that Murphy returned to Big Sur. He had completed nearly two years in India at the ashram of the Hindu philosopher, Sri Aurobindo. On fire with the idea of marrying Eastern and Western thought, Murphy drew up plans to open a holistic, mind-body center that he called Esalen.

"One of our basic ideas was the education of the whole person," Murphy says. "I had a particular interest in the body's role in personal development alongside spiritual development, emotional development, and intellectual development. The sky is the limit." ...

Today, with terrorism a global concern, the teachers at the Esalen Institute promote workshops in the psychology of enmity and reconciliation between Muslims, Christians and Jews. Esalen founder Michael Murphy says that world peace and understanding are front-and-center goals for him now – logical extensions, it seems, of his lifelong fascination with the greatness of human potential.

Begin at the bottom of the environmental pyramid – by farming trees

Outside My Window... Is A Tree from ANTIDOTE by Sauvik

The house in which we live in Goa has a tall TEAK tree growing straight and proud in the middle of the garden. Yet, our doors and windows are made out of the wood of the jackfruit tree – they call it 'jackwood' here – because teak is unaffordable. Jackwood invariably warps. Our doors and windows do not shut properly. There is only one reason why teak costs so much here, where it grows wild: government restrictions. I cannot cut down the teak tree growing on my own property: I need permission from the State.

I have seen this phenomenon in other parts of the Western Ghats too: for example, in Coorg, where a coffee estate owner complained to me that he could not cut rosewood and ebony trees growing on his estate. Even mahogany grows naturally here. So, while I am in full sympathy with Barun Mitra's crusade to save the tiger by farming it, I do believe these arguments will ring true only if we begin at the bottom of the environmental pyramid – by farming trees.

As far as wildlife is concerned, instead of beginning with tigers, we could begin with deer and wild boar. Deer can be easily bred in ranches. So can wild boar. When these efforts at commercializing timber as well as wildlife succeed, the arguments for farming tigers will be better received. In the meantime, do reflect on the fact that the most valuable tree in the world – sandalwood – can also be easily farmed in this region.

When Veerappan was murdered in cold blood by the Karnataka police, I was the only one to call for free-market sandalwood farming. These are the best ways of preserving nature and taking the profit out of poaching. Think about it.

Alcohol is not discussed in "politically correct" discourse

Feni's In the Air from ANTIDOTE by Sauvik
It is the cashew season in Goa. As the fruit ripens on the trees, the air in my little village smells of feni. Feni is an alcoholic drink distilled from the fermented fruit of the cashew... The ban on the trade of feni within India is an example of "real knowledge" going waste, thanks to the senseless restrictions imposed by a government that is desperate to "educate" the apparently stupid people. The funny thing is that not a single Goan politician talks about this. That, I presume, is because alcohol is not discussed in their "politically correct" discourse. Once again, the only solution lies in Liberty. In the meantime, I am enjoying the smell of feni that is wafting through the air of my little Goan village, morning, noon and night. Eat your hearts out, cityfolk. And when you drink that horrid IMFL this evening, dream of feni and urak.
Yet, dreaming is not enough: you must fight for freedom.

Three years of The Middle Stage from The Middle Stage by Chandrahas
I am 28 now — I dream of being rich and drinking champagne everyday now.

Why humanity has so profoundly forsaken the obvious benefits of mutualism

1. April 8th,2008 10:23 pm
Dear Olivia,
As is your habit in these lovely essays, you stick scrupulously to the fine points of your scientific analysis and leave it to your readers to apply your lessons to the deep dilemmas of modern mankind.
Let us begin by acknowledging that homo sapiens is fully capable of entering into long term mutualistic arrangements with other species. Man and dog is the most conspicuous of these alliances, a form of mutualism with roots that may be as ancient as two hundred thousand years.
The deeper question your essay implicitly raises is why humanity has so profoundly forsaken the obvious benefits of mutualism in favor of an extreme form of dominance over all other species. The short term benefits of this dominance are clearly at odds with the evolutionary catastrophe we are in the process of precipitating.
Let us hope that one day you will focus your theoretical prowess on that tragic paradox, and maybe even point the way toward a solution to it.
— Posted by David Moody

4. April 9th,2008 1:11 am
Symbiosis, or mutualism, is one of my favorite scientific subjects. Recently I have become aware of the extent to which humans depend on the beneficial gut bacteria for both digestion and immune function–and these same bacteria may explain why some people like chocolate and others do not. Intestinal worms, previously thought to be parasitic only, seem to have a modulatory effect on the immune system, staving off allergies, asthma, and some autoimmune disorders. Makes one wonder what other “disorders” have hidden medical benefits.
As you mentioned, you could go on forever talking about mutualisms, but you did omit one of my favorites. It’s another one involving ants and fungi, but parasitic rather than symbiotic. In this case, the fungus infects the ant’s brain, causing it to climb to the highest treetop where it is essentially petrified and dies. Then the fungus consumes the ant’s body, and the spores are dispersed from an optimal location, high above the ground.
I don’t have complete citations, but in the spirit of your detailed references I feel obliged to provide some supporting info. The parasitic fungus is cordyceps. The paper about the correlation between liking/disliking chocolate and metabolism is “Human Metabolic Phenotypes Link Directly to Specific Dietary Preferences in Healthy Individuals” by Rezzi et al. Dr. Joel Weinstock, at the University of Iowa, has done research on using pig whipworm eggs as treatment for inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and Crohn’s disease.
— Posted by Aurelio Ramirez

Integral Healing by Sri Aurobindo & The Mother

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136. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on Meditation by Sri and the Mother; Compiled By Vijay Aurobindo (Pamphlet - 1972)
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There is no evidence that climate change has caused an increase in disease

The Civil Society Report on Climate Change, produced by a coalition of over 40 civil society organisations from around the world (CSCCC), concludes:

• Cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the coming two decades is not a cost-effective way to address climate change.
• Deaths from climate related natural disasters have fallen dramatically since the 1920s, as a result of economic growth and technological development. With continued economic growth, the death rate is likely to continue to fall regardless of climate change. (The number of reported natural disasters has increased continuously since 1900 for various reasons, including population growth and improvements in communication; climate change is most likely not one of them.)
• There is no evidence that climate change has caused an increase in disease. If the main causes of diseases such as diarrhoea and malaria are properly addressed, climate change will not increase their incidence.
• Agricultural production has outpaced population growth in the past 50 years. With continued technological improvements, this trend will continue to 2100, even if the global mean temperature rises by 3°C.
• Water scarcity is a problem in many countries, but with better management and modern technologies, more water can made be available to all.
• Millions of people in poor countries currently die unnecessarily due to a lack of wealth and technology. These problems have generally been exacerbated – not alleviated – by foreign aid, which has supported unaccountable governments that have oppressed their citizens, denying them the ability to improve their lot.
• Global restrictions on greenhouse gases would undermine the capacity of people in poor countries to address the problems they face today as well as in the future by retarding economic growth and general economic development.
• Instead of pushing emissions restrictions and failed ‘aid’ policies, governments should focus on reducing barriers to economic growth and adaptation – e.g. removing trade barriers and decentralising management of water and land.

For more information, please see the details on the Liberty Institute web site And the Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change (CSCCC) www.csccc.info Author: Liberty Institute is an independent think tank based in New Delhi. © In Defence of Liberty

But tonight I need my rice and dal and vegetable curry, what to do, we are like that only

I bought a book at the airport in Mumbai on my way to Chennai/Pondicherry/Auroville.
It is called "We are like that only" and it is a study of the consumer trends and attitudes in India. I love the title of the book, it is apt and suitable in so many contexts related to Indian people......Posted by Neeta at 19:51 integral dynamic healing

"we indians are like that only, we are open and completely willing to accept raw foods and green juices in our lives but how can you expect us to only drink juices without eating, one day or one week is enough but 92 days, what, you think we are rishis or yogis or something? and to give up our wholesome vegetarian food? even ayurvedic food is cooked, so don't forget, everything is not bad, you should not get rigid, so of course of course, we should not eat fried foods or sweets, if you say milk is bad now, then we will only use a teaspoon in our tea and take stevia instead of sugar, and we will only eat homemade yogurt and less ghee, we will take green juices everyday and that zucchini pasta you made was very good and maybe we can use that tasty pesto sauce on our toast instead of butter, i can't believe there is spinach in this smoothie, i can only taste the banana it is incredible, you must teach me more of this raw foods definitely......but tonight i need my rice and dal and vegetable curry, what to do, we are like that only........"

The rooms are half left-as-they-were, half museum dioramas

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Room Darshan Published 29 February 2008 Art & Culture , Bio , India , Religion, Spiritualism & Other Make-Believe Tags: ashram, atheism, Cornell University, darshan, Golden Day, L. Pearce Williams, modernism, Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo, The Mother
Today is known as “Golden Day” at the Sri Arobindo Ashram.

On this day in 1956, Sri Aurobindo’s lieutenant and chief disciple, the Mother, had an occult representational vision of the next phase of human development. Sri Aurobindo described this the transcendence from the conscious mind to the supramental state, in which one understands themselves to be a part of the completeness of existence, which he called “the divine.” He’s how she described her experience:
This evening the Divine Presence, concrete and material, was there present amongst you. I had a form of living gold, bigger than the universe, and I was facing a huge and massive golden door which separated the world from the Divine.
As I looked at the door, I knew and willed, in a single movement of consciousness, that “the time has come”, and lifting with both hands a mighty golden hammer I struck one blow, one single blow on the door and the door was shattered to pieces.

On special days, like Golden Day, the rooms of the Ashram which belonged to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are open to devotees, who take advanced appointments and queue for hours for the chance to spend five minutes walking through the private spaces, and among the relics, of the two people they consider their ultimate teachers. Today, we were gifted two passes for “room darshan.”
One enters the Ashram building, entering immediately into the central courtyard which contains the samadi (interment memorials) of the pair, beneath a wonderful old tree. I was somewhat surprised to realize that, in the years I’ve lived in Pondicherry, within a few blocks of this historic building – which plays such an important symbolic role in the lives of so many of my close friends – I had never before been in this place, though it is open daily.
It is my nature to react strongly to physical spaces I know are significant to people I care about; an I had a strong feeling of affection for the inner recesses of the Ashram. It’s not clear in this case, however, how much of this feeling was empathy, and how much was a function of the fact that it is an absolutely wonderful old building. The Mothers room, in particular, displayed an astonishing character. While the rest of the rooms were decorated in a rather precious Belle Époque style, her chamber has an entirely different feel, anachronistic and distinctive. With simply jointed teak paneling, and clean, spare detailing, the space mirrors some of the earliest experimental work of the Bauhaus architects, before they found their pallet in steel, concrete, and glass. The furnishings bear evidence of the fin de siecle and art deco periods, but he overriding impression is of proto-modernism, if not modernism itself. This would be far less surprising if this woman had not remained in this relatively remote corner of South India from 1920 until her death in 1973, at the age of 95. Given her own radical, progressive social engineering, she certainly should have had an affinity for the modernist movement – which, without overstating the point, shares quite a bit of philosophical common-ground with Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga – but it is far from clear from where the design influence would have come. Perhaps historians of the ashram will know the answer to this fascinating aspect of the Mother’s private space.
Walking through the ashram’s inner rooms evoked one other strong sentiment: that of I’m missing-something-good-here-if-only-I could-see-it, drive-by voyeurism. The items of décor, as well as simple, everyday objects from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are preserved, displayed, and fetishized. The rooms were half left-as-they-were, half museum dioramas. Sure, it is fun to get an up-close look at the way important historical figures lived in their homes; that part I got. But one need only look in the adoring faces of the supplicants as they pass through these treasures to know that they could still feel the presence of the people in the objects – and in the space itself. There is only one place in the world that makes me feel that way and, improbably enough, it is also an ashram: Sabarmati, which Gandhi-ji call “home” for much of his adult life.
It is quite odd that I find myself living amid so much deeply felt spirituality to which I am so perfectly immune.

Breema, Feldenkrais, and Yoga in Pitanga

Pitanga picture gallery Pitanga schedule For further information about our activities you may contact: Andrea or Kumar at: pitanga@auroville.org.in
Below are descriptions of some activities:
Asanas - with Helga, for constant groups only.
Asanas – with Abha, based on the Iyengar School of yoga.
Pregnancy yoga – with Appie, for pregnant women.
Pathanjali Yoga – following the Sutras by the Indian yoga master Pathanjali: asanas, breathing and meditation.
Yoga therapy – various traditions to regain strength and agility. Main focus: Five Tibetans, breathing, Chi self massage and Taoist rejuvenation.
Back exercises – simple exercises, focusing on the spine, strengthening abdomen, lower back and thighs.
Tai Chi – Yang Chen-fu style, long forms. Develops basic principles.
Aikido – Auroville has its own branch, Aikikai, developed by students of Tamura Sensei Shihan.
Iado – Martial defense, which forms a part of Aikido practice.
Odissi dance – Indian classical dance for children of 7+ years and adults
Dance / body work – to feel graceful in the body, through a dialogue with yourself and the group. Classical and modern dance.
Schedule - February 2008
Workshops on Breema ® : The Art of Being Present
Based on a profound yet practical understanding of the unifying principle of all life, Breema ® includes Self-Breema ® exercises as well as the dynamic Breema ® bodywork method.
Paola is already offering Breema bodywork sessions at Pitanga.
Christina and David Hamilton are two experienced Breema Instructors and practitioners from Hawaii . They are kindly offering further Breema activities in Dec. and later in Jan. and Feb. again:
Self-Breema ® Classes
Self-Breema exercises are both nurturing and energizing. All the movements are natural and comfortable—no muscular force is involved—so they are enjoyable and appropriate for just about everyone.
Each simple exercise is based on the Nine Principles of Harmony. Practiced in a nonjudgmental atmosphere, they allow us to discover a natural, joyful connection to the body and the benefit of fully participating in life.
The movements of Self-Breema are balanced and in harmony with our essential nature. Practicing Self-Breema invites physical flexibility, emotional balance, and mental clarity.
Time: 10.30 – 11.30 at Pitanga
Dates: In Dec. on 10, 12 and 17. From 21 Jan. onwards
on Mon, Wed until end of Feb.
Breema Bodywork Class
Christina is offering special classes on learning Breema Bodywork:
Time: 10.30 – 12.30 (2hrs.) at Pitanga
Dates: In December on 14 th and 19 th
From 25 Jan. onwards every Friday until end of Feb.
Feldenkrais exercises
We are inviting you to participate in Feldenkrais exercises by Marry Kroon which are now part of our regular program in Pitanga. Exercises are starting from Monday, 11 Dec. onwards. Beginners : Wednesday 17.00 - 18.30 & Saturday 10.30 - 11.30 Medical : Monday 17.00 - 18.00 & Friday 10.30 - 11.30 The medical classes are inviting people who do not move so easily, either because of their age or an accident or an illness. Therefore this class is especially suitable for elderly people.
Iyengar Yoga
Tatiana will be offering five more weekly classes for different levels, starting from 10 Dec. onwards.
Beginners: Monday 10.30 – 12.00, first class: 10 Dec.
Intermediate: Tuesday10.30 – 12.00 , first class: 11 Dec.
Saturday 15.30 – 17.00, , first class: 15 Dec.
Acknowledging the increased demands from guests during the coming months, we will introduce further
Beginners’ classes for guests:
Wednesday 08.00 – 09.30, first class: 13 Dec.
Saturday 08.00 – 09.30, first class: 15 Dec.
3-months-workshop:
Hatha Yoga - Iyengar & Ashtanga style
Alain Sigrist is by profession a Yoga teacher in New Caledonia, where he manages his own centre. He has been visiting Auroville every year since 1985 and is therefore already known to many. During his stay this year he is offering for three months special Hatha Yoga classes: “Hatha Yoga: An inspiration from the style of B.K.S. Iyengar for the precision of the alignment combined with the full control and support of the breath like in Ashtanga Yoga style”. Alain quotes “Yoga is like a necklace on which asanas are the pearls and the breath is the thread that connects the pearls.”
Classes are offered to mixed level students so as to evaluate the level of students first. The aim is to give a special attention to the needs of intermediate students later. Main teaching language will be French, enriched with hints in EnglishJ.
Mixed level:
Thursday & Saturday 15.30 – 17.00, first class: 6 Dec.
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