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TWO INDEPENDENT REMEMBRANCES
(These remembrances are independent not only in .the sense that both record individual impressions that arose spontaneously on the two occasions mentioned but also in the sense that neither author saw the writing of the other before putting down his own vision.)
1
SEHRA LAST VIEW (25.4.1980)
by Ravindra Khanna
I entered the room a little trepidant expecting to see a face with all the mental agonies and physical afflictions engraved on it. But a most marvellous sight met my gaze. Such beauty of a blissful calm enveloped it that its ripples could be felt all over the room. She was no longer the Sehra I had been seeing over the years as if all the ravages of long physical agonies had been effaced and given place to the radiance of a spiritual love and compassion for all. All through my stay in the room I could not take my eyes off this spiritual beauty suffusing a human body and it was impossible to believe that it was a corpse with all life extinct from it. Surely her soul chose this blessed hour to depart obeying some gesture from Above. Even to recall her face in imagination opens up new heights for the soul. I could visualise what Sri Aurobindo had meant when he wrote: Page-210 Calm faces of the gods on backgrounds vast... There was no trace of any dissatisfaction or disgust with life but only a benign and compassionate goodwill for all from one who had left the unquiet lands far away. 12.5.1980
2
FREEDOM 24.4.1980
by Amal Kiran
With the Far-away's call Quickening your heart-beat You freed yourself from all Earth's bitter-sweet. Terrible at times the means By which the soul Drops out of mortal space To its inmost goal. A moment your whole life hung 'Twixt heaven and abyss; Then the Great Mother caught you In Her arms of bliss. No shadow fell from the past. A smiling future's light Flowered through your face to answer Our clamorous questioning sight. 26.4.1980 Page-211 BY THE SAME AUTHOR :
1.The Problem of Aryan Origins: From an Indian Point of View 2.Karpasa in Prehistoric India: A Chronological and Cultural Clue 3.Problems of Ancient India 4.Ancient India in a New Light 5.The Beginning of History for Israel 6.Life-Poetry-Yoga, Personal Letters, Vol. I 7.Life-Poetry-Yoga, Personal Letters, Vol. II 8.Life-Poetry-Yoga, Personal Letters, Vol. III 9.Parnassians 10."Two Loves" and "A Worthier Pen" The Enigmas of Shakespeare's Sonnets 11.The English Language and the Indian Spirit: Correspondence between Kathleen Raine and K.D. Sethna 12.Indian Poets and English Poetry: Correspondence between Kathleen Raine and K.D. Sethna 13.The Obscure and the Mysterious: A Research in Mallarme's Symbolist Poetry 14.Blake's Tyger: A Christological Interpretation 15.The Inspiration of Paradise Lost 16.Inspiration and Effort: Studies in Literary Attitude and Expression 17."A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal" An Interpretation from India 18.The Thinking Corner: Causeries on Life and Literature 19.Adventures in Criticism 20.Classical and Romantic An Approach through Sri Aurobindo 21.Mandukya Upanishad: English Version, Notes and Commentary 22.Science, Materialism, Mysticism 23.The Indian Spirit and the World's Future 24.A Follower of Christ & a Disciple of Sri Aurobindo: Page-212 Correspondence between Bede Griffiths and K.D. Sethna (Amal Kir an) 25.Problems of Early Christianity 26.The Virgin Birth and the Earliest Christian Tradition 27.Is Velikovsky's Revised Chronology Tenable? A Scrutiny of Four Fundamental Themes 28.Teilhard De Chardin and our Time 29.Aspects of Sri Aurobindo 30.Sri Aurobindo and Greece 31.The Vision and Work of Sri Aurobindo 32.Sri Aurobindo - The Poet 33.The Development of Sri Aurobindo's Spiritual System and the Mother's Contribution to it 34.The Poetic Genius of Sri Aurobindo 35.Sri Aurobindo on Shakespeare 36.Our Light and Delight Recollections of Life with the Mother 37.The Mother: Past-Present-Future 38.Life-Literature-Yoga: Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo 39.The Passing of Sri Aurobindo: Its Inner Significance and Consequence 40.Light and Laughter: Some Talks at Pondicherry by Amal Kiran and Nirodbaran 41.The Spirituality of the Future: A Search apropos of R.C. Zaehner's Study in Sri Aurobindo and Teilhard de Chardin 42.The Secret Splendour: Collected Poems 43.Evolving India: Essays on Cultural Issues 44.The Adventure of the Apocalypse (Poems) 45.Altar and Flame (Poems) 46.The Sun and the Rainbow Approaches to Life through Sri Aurobindo's Light 47.Poems by Amal Kiran and Nirodoaran with Sri Aurobindo's Comments 48."Overhead Poetry": Poems with Sri Aurobindo's Comments 49.Talks on Poetry 50.Some Talks at Pondicherry Amal Kiran and Nirodbaran 51.India and the World Scene Page-213 |