-05_Parvati^s Tapasaya.htm Parvati's Tapasya A blazing fire sprung from Shiva's third eye, had consumed Cupid,1 the mind-born god, and reduced him to ashes in front of Parvati, thereby shattering her hopes. Then the daughter of the Mountain2 blamed her own beauty in her heart. For what use is beauty if it does not attract the beloved? She decided to take recourse to austerities and mind-centered meditation in order to make her beauty bear fruit; for how else could she secure such love and such a husband? Mena, hearing that her daughter, who had set her heart on Shiva, was resolved to practise asceticism, clasped her to her bosom and spoke, trying to dissuade her from the terrible vow

Glossary 1. Cupid: god of Love (or Desire) for the Romans. In Sanskrit this god has many names: Kama (desire), Manobhava (born of the mind), Smara (remembrance), Manmatha (the one who churns the mind), Madana (the one who intoxicates). 2. The daughter of the Mountain: Parvati means the daughter of Parvat, i.e. the mountain, Himalaya. Shailaja, another name for Parvati, means also the daughter of the rocs or of the mountain. 3. Shirisha: One of the most beautiful Indian flowering trees (latin name: Albizzia lebbek). The delicate flowers (also called Sitapushpa) look like miniature powder-puffs. The leaves are sensitive and fold up on being touched. S

Uma - Abaninidranath Tagore Parvati's Tapasya Introduction Her aim was nothing less than to win the heart of the supreme ascetic, silent and motionless in his abode of ice and snow. The great Shiva clothed in ashes, whom neither desire nor grief can touch, whose meditation is like Infinity contemplating Infinity, by whom worlds are created and worlds are destroyed, who can immobilise the raging Ganges streams in his matted locks and bear in his throat the fire of the primordial poison, on that god, Parvati, the lovely daughter of Himalaya, had set her eyes. This was not for the first time. She had been his from the beginning of time, in other li

Notes Kalidasa's life "Valmiki, Vyasa and Kalidasa are the essence of the history of ancient India", said Sri Aurobindo, "if all else were lost, they would still be its sole and sufficient cultural history." Yet, of the life of these three great poets we know very little. And the three plays and four poems of Kalidasa tell us nothing directly about himself. Even Mallinatha, the great commentator of Kalidasa, who lived in the XIVth century AD is silent about his life. As there was more than one author bearing the name of Kalidasa, the facts about one got mixed with that of the others creating confusing myths about his life story. It is generally believed that Kalidasa w

Acknowledgements This monograph is part of a series on Value-oriented Education centered on three values: Illumination, Heroism and Harmony. The research, preparation and publication of the monographs that form part of this series are the result of the cooperation of the following members of the research team of the Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research, Auroville: Abha, Alain, Anne, Ashatit, Auralee, Bhavana, Christine, Claude, Deepti, Don, Frederick, Ganga, Jay Singh, Jean-Yves, Jossi, Jyoti Madhok, Kireet Joshi, Krishna, Lala, Lola, Mala, Martin, Mirajyoti, Namrita, Olivier, Pala, Pierre, Serge, Shailaja, Shankaran, Sharanam, Soham, Suzie,

Illumination, Heroism and Harmony Preface The task of preparing teaching-learning material for value- oriented education is enormous. There is, first, the idea that value-oriented education should be exploratory rather than prescriptive, and that the teaching- learning material should provide to the learners a growing experience of exploration. Secondly, it is rightly contended that the proper inspiration to turn to value-orientation is provided by biographies, autobiographical accounts, personal anecdotes, epistles, short poems, stories of humour, stories of human interest, brief passages filled with pregnant meanings, reflective short essays written in well-