SPIRITUALITY IN ACTION A YOUNG man persuaded his father who had travelled all over the world to visit the Ashram if he wanted to see spirituality in action. Another person, an M.L.A., remarked : "I had been to Rameswaram. Having once visited the place, one hardly feels a call to revisit it. But here the experience is different. One likes coming here again and again. I am a busy man, always at work. But here, off my work, I do not feel bored. I feel, however, that a flying visit does not suffice. One must be a resident here to gain anything concrete." There is another side to the picture. A visitor who had just returned from England came to see his

GROWTH OF WORLD CULTURE ALL does not end with what we have said. Where is the - pen with vision, power and devotion enough to give even a faint idea of the whole significance of Sri Aurobindo's life, to portray the various aspects of the Mother's work that cover so many inner and higher planes ? For instance, we have not said anything at length about the place of women in the life of the Ashram, the freedom they enjoy under the Mother's care. In the Ashram a woman is looked upon not as wife, daughter or sister or any other relation of a sadhak but as a soul with an independent status and a direct approach to the Mother. Asked what role man

The integral approach characterises Narayan Prasad's presentation of the Ashram story. As one who has been asked all manner of questions about life in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, I welcome this treasure-house of information and inspiration. Narayan Prasad has done a thorough job, as befits a disciple of the Master and the Mother. No mere chronicler, he does an "inside job", in the better sense of the term. This authentic and fascinating account of a divine experiment, a most timely adventure in integration, will inspire a host of readers. Jay Holmes Smith LIFE IN SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM NARA

-17_Sri Aurobindo^s Gifts To The World.htm SRI AUROBINDO'S GIFTS TO THE WORLD WHAT is it that redounds to the highest glory of ancient India ? The short answer is Brahma Vidya — the stream of Consciousness which flows from the experience of the Self. The life and light which it contains sustain our society even to-day. Ancient India's literature, based on the Supreme Truth, is her ambassador to the outside world. Sri Aurobindo's gifts of new spiritual Truths embodied in his peerless literature are a revelation of Divine Knowledge for the New Age. What Sri Aurobindo did to ward off the greatest world crisis of our generation we have seen. His concern was not so much with war as such, as

THE ASHRAM ATMOSPHERE AN inner revoluti on is not like an outer which comes like a " storm and passes off. It is much more subtle and far-reaching in its effect. There is no preaching here, the very atmosphere of the Ashram is charged with the Master's teaching. When one is accepted as a disciple he is not initiated into any mantra or asked to follow a set yogic discipline. The Ashram does not follow any religious creed, tradition or convention. It is from the atmosphere one has to choose and take the course of his sadhana. Further, it is the atmosphere of the Ashram that tells on a visitor's soul first of all. So, if possible, let us sense it through a f

-14_The Master^s Touch Through Letters.htm THE MASTER'S TOUCH THROUGH LETTERS THE period extending from 1930 to 1938 cannot be closed without reference to the sadhaks' correspondence with the Master and his luminous replies which are our richest treasures and an unfailing source of our inspiration. The replies received were looked upon as blessings and matters of high privilege. Sri Aurobindo's writings, his letters to his disciples have not a little to contribute to charging the air of the Ashram with the vibrations of Truth along with purity, serenity, clarity, discipline and orderliness. To be born in an age when the Divine himself blesses the earth in human form is in itself an unp

THE DARSHAN DAY THE auspicious days on which we have the Darshan of the Master and the Mother are known in the Ashram as the Darshan days. By celebrating the birthdays of Prophets and Avatars people imbibe at least something of their spirit or their influence. But there are other days too, in spiritual history, whose celebration can be a fountain of inner joy and light. One such is called in our Ashram the Day of Siddhi or Victory—November 24,1926. In fact, before this day on which Sri Aurobindo established what he himself considered a solid base for the truly Divine manifestation, there was according to him no question of Darshan. He would deal with all on the same level as

PART THREE SHAPING THE FUTURE IN THE PRESENT SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM is a marvel of the Mother's vision. It is a living commentary on Sri Aurobindo's work. The arduous labours of the Master and the Mother are not only for the benefit of the sadhaks as individuals but for the "outflowering of the Divine in the collectivity." The Mother observes: 'The conditions under which men live upon earth are the result of their state of consciousness. To seek to change conditions without changing the consciousness is a vain chimera."1 The Ashram constitutes a picture of evolving individuals in a developing society. "Every sadhak here represen

PART TWO PRANAM "No one should look upon the Pranam either as a formal routine or an obligatory ceremony or think himself under any compulsion to come there. The object of the Pranam is not that sadhaks should offer a formal or ritual daily homage to the Mother, but that the sadhaks may receive along with the Mother's blessings whatever spiritual help or influence they are in a condition to receive or assimilate. It is important to maintain a quiet and collected atmosphere for that purpose." Sri Aurobindo IN 1926 Pranam and meditation used to take place upstairs just in front of the room which afterwards the Mother utilised for Darshana. The Mother used to be on

THE ASHRAM IN THE MAKING "FROM the very beginning of my present earthly existence,happened to meet many people who said that they had a great inner aspiration, an urge towards something deeper and more true, but could not advance, because, they said, they were bound, subjected, slaves of this brutal necessity of earning their livelihood and that put such a burden upon them, took so much of their time and energy that nothing remained to enable them to devote to any other kind of activity inner or outer. I have heard this very often, I have seen many poor people like that—I do not say poor from the monetary point of view, but poor, because they felt themselves i