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SENTEURS
Udar, under Mother's direction, started several units like the Handmade Paper Unit, the Laboratoires Senteurs,"' tc. He also took up and developed the Coco Garden Cement Concrete Works, and managed Honesty Engineers and Contractors. He also helped establish the New Horizon Sugar Mills and the New Horizon Stainless Steel factory. - Lilou -
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The Mother Opening Senteurs -Sept. 1958 Tanmaya, Udar, Nolini, Gautam |
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The Mother at senteurs -Sept. 1958 Nolini,Pranab, Tanmaya, Udar, Panu |
After the Merger of Pondicherry with the Indian Union, as it was difficult to get foreign goods, Udar started the perfumery specially for Friction de Foucaud which Mother used daily. As usual because we were busy with office work during the day time, we worked at night. Udar started it at Fenetres (his house) and when more help was required a few students also came. As in the daytime no one was at Fenetres, perfume and other toilette products were kept in his office for those who wanted to buy. Later on as it grew it was necessary that it become a separate full-fledged unit. - Lilou - When Udar started making perfume, at their house Fenetres where they had shifted I used to accompany Lilou, mostly after work and group activities, to help in the preparation and bottling of perfumes. - Suprabha - |
The Mother st senteurs - Sept. 1958 Mona, Gautam, Udar |
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The Mother opening new power generator at Atelier - 12th Oct. 1954 Udar,Vishnu |
It was started by Manoranjan Ganguli but as he could not cope with the work he asked Udar through Mother to be his partner. Later on as Manoranjan became involved in other businesses he left H.E.C. and Udar had to run it. Udar turned it into a Trust so that all profits would go to the Ash ram. - Lilou - |
The Mother at Aroumé Ravindra, Dyuman, Udar |
The Mother at H.E.C. Anil, Pranab, Pavitra, Udar, Minoo |
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Opening of Ayurvedic Section - 22nd Feb. 1957
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"Why don't you start a hand-made paper department, we'll give you all help," said the Khadi and Village Industries Commission. I told them, "I am not interested in paper, I am an aeronautical engineer. We have no paper specialist, but I will ask the Mother." And Mother was very enthusiastic, She said, "Take it up. I don't want any profit, I want you to make me good paper." Then I became enthusiastic, and I began to study, to read all the books. And again it so happened, - when you begin to work for the Mother, all the circumstances begin to collaborate - even the best material for the best paper is very close to us here. I soon realised that the best paper, called rag paper, is made from tailor cuttings. - Udar-
Opening of H.M.P. by the Mother - 9th Dec.1959 |
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Handmade paper 9th Dec.1959 |
Handmade paper 9th Dec.1959 Panu, Nolini, Amrita, Dayakar, Prabhakar, Pavitra, Udar |
The K.V.I.C. were very generous and most helpful. They gave us a substantial grant and, besides, a loan at low interest and sent their best man to set up our unit here. We tried to get the best of all the things necessary - the washers, the beaters, the paper-lifting vats, the driers, etc. Then we made the paper and soon arrived at a very good quality. Mother was very happy with our product. The K.V.I.C. were also very pleased with us because we took up the work with so much enthusiasm which they had found lacking in the other units they had set up all over the country. At that time, they informed us that they had set up about 600 units of different sizes. Because of the Mother's Force supporting us, which gave us all the enthusiasm, ours soon became the foremost unit in the whole of India and today our unit is considered as one of the best in the world, including even japan where handmade paper has a high standard.
- Udar- |
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handmade paper - 9th Dec.1959 workers lifting paper |
Handmade paper 9th Dec.1959 The Mother watching hand lifting of paper Nolini, Panu, Amrita, Dayakar, Prabhakar, Udar, Kiran, Pavitra |
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H.M.P. Opening of the new section - Dec.1967 Anurakta, Gulabbhai, udar, Someshwar, Reba |
H.M.P. meeting - Oct.1961 Dyuman, Wilfy, Charupada, Udar, Anurakta |
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The Mother at the Stainless steel Factory Inauguration - 9th Dec.1960 |
As there was no H.M.P. office at that time everything was done by Udar from his Harpagon office. He also arranged to have the first All India Hand Made Paper Industries Conference under the auspices of Khadi and Village Industries at the Ash ram. Mother gave the message for the Conference: "In work aspiration towards perfection is true spirituality" - Lilou - |
The Mother at the Stainless steel Factory Inauguration - 9th Dec.1960 |
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Opening of Dental Clinic - 29th April 1965 Gangaram, Indrasen, Udar, Neel, Navajata, Richard, Laljibhai |
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Tresor Nursing Home opening 2nd Jan. 1970 |
the construction work of New Horizon Sugar Mills was taken up by H.E.C. they required a lot of building material like hollow blocks (nine lakhs were supplied), R.C.C. door and window frames and lime mortar etc. As Coco Garden (Precast Concrete Works) was at that time only an Ashram department (under Khirod and Kalikumar), they were not authorised to do business. Udar applied for and obtained the license in the name of Precast Concrete Works and from 1963 the manufacture and sale of concrete products commenced. - Lilou - Udar started "Precast Concrete Works" where they made pre-cast cement articles like slabs, rings etc. Also made there were flooring tiles. Much of Jipmer Hospital has flooring and walls clad with Precast Concrete tiles. -Wilfy- |
In 1976 when I joined the Watch Repairing Department I saw there were lots of good tools and on enquiring I came to know that they had all been given by Udar.
It was Udar who started repairing Mother's watches and got the necessary tools. So I went to him and heard a few stories about how it all began and how he got the tools through friends abroad. Then he gave me some tools, still left with him, and a 400 days clock "Jaeger Le Coultre" which used to be in Mother's room. He wanted me to repair it and show him how good I was. I managed to repair it and he was very happy and gave me the clock. He said Mother had given it to him and now I could keep it. How happy I was!
- Promesse -
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The Mother at the Le Faucheur Island - 1957 Ananta, Udar, Amiyo, Pavitra, Purnima, Marie Abel |
The Mother visiting Cazanove Sudhir, Udar, Niranjan, Debu, Pavitra, Amiyo, Dayakar |
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The Mother Looking at the Cazanove cows - 5th Dec.1960 Sudhir, Amiyo, Dayakar, Khirod, Pavitra, Himanshu, debu, Udar, Sumantra, Pradyut |
Sometimes mother would visit the Ashram gardens and farms. Also every year she would go to the 'Le Faucheur' Island and Ananta, who lived there and looked after it, would show her around. Some people would show Her around. Some people would be invited to go with Her, first across the river in a boat and then on to the Island. |
The Mother at Parc à Charbon (park Guest House) March 1957 |
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The Mother at the Island - 1958 Ananta, Amiyo, Udar, Nolini, Eleanor, Huta, Amita |
Crossing the river to Ananta's island Pavitra, Amita, Udar, Amiya, Ananta |
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Mother watching the peacock at the Island - 1958 Huta, Eleanor, Amiya, Nolini, Nolini, Pavitra, Udar, Anata |
The Mother going to the Island by bird-boat-1960 Manoranjan, pavitra, Pranab |
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The practice of dowsing is a very ancient one. In England this used to be done with a hazel twig in the form of a Y. This twig had a natural springiness. One holds the Y facing outwards, level with the ground. The method was used largely for finding sources of water. The dowser walked slowly over the ground being investigated and if and when he came over a source of water the twig would move suddenly and forcefully, either up or down. Sometime during the last war we had the visit of an officer of the British Royal Air Force. He had come to see us and ask questions with regard to dowsing. Instead of a hazel twig he used a V made by sticking the tips of two steel cored knitting needles into a piece of rubber. But he mostly used a pendulum. He explained that this was also an old tradition for prospecting for precious metals and stones. The pendulums had a small chamber and screwed-on tip. A small piece of the metal or precious stone sought for was put into the pendulum bob that was hung by a silk string. Prospecting was done at the place itself or even over a map at a place far removed from the actual site. The pendulum would show its reaction by circular movement either clockwise or anti-clockwise. He himself used mostly the pendulum. The officer told us that there are many people who are open to the forces that act in these |
Purani and Uadr in the 1930s |
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matters. He discovered his own prowess quite by accident. He asked me to try out his knitting needle V. We were living, at that time at the Red House, opposite our library, the house which we shared with the young donkey Baudet and with our lively Dalmatian, Beauty, and later, with her son Beau. All the three names had been given by the Mother Herself. We were, at the time, upstairs in our sitting room and I took the V as directed and walked slowly the length of the room. Really I expected nothing to happen but when I reached one place, the V shot up quite violently and gave me a bump on the nose. I tried it again and even tried to stop the V from moving but each time I got the bump, always at the same spot. Later we found that this spot was just over a water tap downstairs. So evidently I had the opening and the man encouraged me to develop it further but I was not interested. I have felt that such things tend to lead one away from the true path of the Yoga into byways and hold one there. Mother confirmed this to me later.
Now, he explained, the Royal Air Force had taken him up seriously and they employed him to trace missing airmen who had been shot down and forced to bail out over enemy-occupied territory. The R.A.F. would send him a piece of clothing of the airman he had to locate and would indicate the area to be investigated. He had large-scale maps of all the areas. He said that he was able to locate quite a number of men, and rescue parties would be sent out to bring them back.
Now the officer had two questions for which he wanted answers." First, he wanted to know what was the force that acted in such matters and from where it came. Next, he asked why the results were not always true. Purani was with us at the time and neither he nor any of us felt we could answer these questions. So Purani took the V and the pendulum to Sri Aurobindo and showed the things to Him and asked Him the questions.
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This is the answer given by Sri Aurobindo. He said that such knowledge as is revealed to those who seek for it through these and other means exists in a certain plane of consciousness and persons can open to this plane. When one gets reactions through the instruments such as those taken to Him it shows that one is open to this plane. But because the knowledge is transmitted through physical material instruments which are themselves not conscious, error can often come in and often certain mischievous forces purposely give false information just for the fun of it, and because they can use the material instruments. So the best thing to do, said Sri Aurobindo, was to try and open more towards that plane of knowledge for a direct revelation and not through an instrument. Then each revelation would be always true.
- Udar -
Udar had qualified as an aeronautical engineer from the UK in the early thirties. However there was little aviation in India at that time and hence no scope for the utilisation of his education and skills. I first met Udar in the summer of 1959. I was then serving as a fighter pilot on active duty in the Indian Air Force. I was flying the French 'Ouragan' (called Toofani in India) aircraft and as a hobby I used to do gliding (sailplane flying) on weekends. We just clicked from the very beginning. His |
Hang glider, Udar and soni |
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interest in aviation was rekindled through our association and for me he always remained a father-figure.
During my visit to Pondicherry in the summer of 1966 Udar expressed a wish to fly in a small plane over Pondicherry and the Ashram. So we went to Meenambakam Airport in Madras and the Chief Flying Instructor of the Madras Flying Club very kindly arranged two separate Pushpak aircraft for us to fly over Pondicherry and back. The two yellow Pushpak aircraft appeared over Pondicherry and Udar was indeed very thrilled to wave to the people in the Ashram below. After that whenever we were together in Delhi he always prompted me to fly him. It was for me a great privilege to take him up in the air, seated beside me, and to feel the enthusiasm that he radiated.
- D.P.Soni-
There was an U.F.O., I don't know how the newspaper people came to know about it, but it was announced that an U.F.O. will fly over Pondicherry at about 11 or 12 o'clock, because the U.F.O. had been sighted by some people and they made some kind of calculation. So I told Mother. Both of us went on the terrace and looked up at the sky from the first floor. Truly, the U.F.O. came over. They called it a flying saucer, but I would call it rather a flying discus. It was fairly big but not massive, double the size of this room. It flew slowly, there was no smoke, no noise. I am an engineer, I could see that there were no wings, no jets. Clearly it was coming from somewhere else. Mother and I saw it. And then when I looked up she was in meditation. So I kept quiet. And then after that I asked Mother about it,
"I am not sure -whether it is a friendly or an unfriendly object", she said.
I thought Mother would be surprised, but no! She said, "Udar! People don't know we are surrounded by all kinds of objects, some physically visible, some not, we are not the only world created in the process of manifestation. Some of them are very bad but some are wonderfully advanced. But all these worlds are static,
whatever they are they remain like that, there is no movement, no idea of progress. So they like to visit the earth because they feel some sense of movement, of evolution."
- Udar-
The utilisation and the harnessing of energy is essential for any progress - not only material but, through the physical, to other areas in our world, having an impact even on spiritual growth. Actually growth, to be true, must be integral and global. Hence the drive towards more powerful sources of energy is essentially valid but we must have the vision to see in what direction we should move in our investigations. Fossil fuels are also of the darkness but not of much danger and have served us for several centuries. It is in the spiritual ordering of the progressive march that they now become scarce and more and more difficult and expensive to get and use. We are being driven towards other sources. |
Solar Pond |
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And we have an unlimited source before us all the time, the energy from the sun. The sun is the spiritual symbol of a very high realisation, seen as such from very ancient times and its beneficence has been sought to be availed of in various ways. But the utilisation has been very, very marginal. There are now growing efforts for a greater and more effective utilisation. This must be encouraged and supported to the fullest by all of us, particularly in India. - Udar-
The 12th World Energy Congress ended at Delhi on 23rd September 1983 with the participation of 62 nations in the deliberations on the important question of energy. What interested me most is that this is part of the Mother's vision. Mother had" told me very forcefully that the days of the fossil fuels were over and it had to be so. We were living on our past, our dead past as the word fossil itself indicates. We should now move to our future, our glorious future, to an energy from the sun, the physical symbol of the Supramental. Mother had had a vision jn which She saw a very large area covered with some kind of flat panels and from this there was a constant supply of electric power coming. - Udar- |
Box type solar cooker with front door Ashram design 1981 |
I must mention the very important and dedicated work in solar energy that is being done here by Dr. Chamanlal Gupta, one of the members of the Ashram, under the aegis of the Tata Energy Research Institute, and his fine collaborator, his wife Shipra. Presently they are setting up, in several places installation of solar water heating systems and they are manufacturing very efficient solar cookers. They had also set up a solar pond in one of our estate; but it was a small pond for experiment and they were able to collect valuable data. Now for the big pond that we propose to make in Pondicherry it ii they who will help prepare the scheme.
Here are some general facts about solar ponds' electric generation: 1 sq. metre will generally produce 3 to 4 watt-hours. The solar pond keeps its hea even during the night, so the power generation is for 24 hours.
- Udar-
"I am an engineer," he used to say, but one could see that he had the attitude of a true scientist. For example, once Mother told him that Nuclear fission i' not the way of the future for energy because it has an occult flaw as it profits from division; there might be a good future for Nuclear fusion because it is the opposite. So Udar went and searched and showed the Mother all other possibilities like biomass, hydroelectric etc. including a picture of solar panels foi solar electricity. Mother, he claimed, had a vision of large installations of such a kind in desert lands. She said, "Yes, this is the way."
- Olivier P. -
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I gave Mother the whole explanation about photovoltaics, and She said, "Do whatever you can to push research in that line, this is the way of the future for the world. Because the Sun is the sign of the supramental and the iupramental is pouring power on earth, a tiny fraction of it is enough, and this is the way we can have it." She said that Nuclear power is the power of the Asura, the titan. It comes out of destruction and out of destruction you get power. So the whole character is destructive and even for peaceful purposes it will give no 2nd of troubles. And She said India should be the one country notto take to nuclear power, but we are using it as much as 3ossible. - Udar - |
Photo Voltaic Cells |
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Tomatoes grown hydroponically |
... The more important thing to state is something which physical science will not accept and that is that energy has characteristics. They maintain that energy is neutral and can be well used or ill used but the Mother has said very strongly that nuclear energy is evil in its very base. It comes from the destruction of the basis of matter, the nucleus of the atom and so its very characteristic is destructive. Even the so-called peaceful purpose is a blind. It can never be peaceful and, somehow or the other, will cause great damage. On the other hand, the Mother has shown that the true spiritual energy in the physical comes from the sun. It is the physical symbol of the Supramental and it pours down on us enormous quantities of wonderful energy of which we now use only a very, very small fraction. So our whole attention must be concentrated on using solar energy, in all its forms. - Udar-
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The Mother at the press - 23rd Aug. 1961 Udar, Amiya,Prabhak |
The Mother at the press - 23rd Aug. 1961 Udar,Bula |
In the early days when any urgent work had to be done, students and inmates always came forward to help without disturbing their department work. So mostly they worked at night, like we did for the Press. Once Mother called Udar and told him that no books were coming from the Press. The printing had been done and stacked but the material was not collated, cut, stitched and bound into book- form. So much backlog was there that the printed material was stacked right to the ceiling. Udar took up the job and organised with the Press workers and volunteers to work at night. They cleared the complete backlog in 6 months and brought into book form all that was printed. The Press was then running day and night. - Lilou - |
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Udar was often organising extra work whenever this was needed because often there were either not enough paid workers or the workers were on strike. I remember how we had worked almost through the night on a Saturday at the Press in different sections, like binding.. It used to be so much fun and the work was done at a good speed. We were children so we enjoyed a night out and we could have tea which we normally did not drink I can say that we really enjoyed our life in those days. Fun was work and work was fun can mention that Udar was the organiser always for such occasions. He was the Divine Worker. - Lata - |
The Mother at the press - 23rd Aug. 1961 Nolini, Robi,Amrita, Udar. |
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The mother leaving the press - 23rd Aug. 1961 |
Foundation stone laying for press extension - 1980 Viswanath,Udar, Kalyan, Counoums, Ranganath, Himanshu, Dyuman, Chinu |
We received a consignment of huge logs from the Andamans and they were unloaded near Parc-a-Charbon. They had to be shifted to Coco Garden. There was no local transport available to shift such huge logs. The Government was pressing us to clear their space. Udar told Mother about it. She asked Mona (Captain) to go with his group (he was at that time captain of what was then called 'C group) to help shift the logs. They used to work from 4.30 p.m. in the afternoon till about 10 at night and sometimes even later than that. Some other volunteers also joined them sometimes to help. Mother used to send them groundnuts daily. It took about 2 to 3 months to shift all the logs to Coco Garden, as the logs were huge and heavy and only one log could be put on the trolley at a time. The boys pushed the trolley right from Parc-a-Charbon to Coco Garden. It was very strenuous work. Udar was very much there. He used to choose the logs and help with a crane to lift the logs and put them onto the trolleys. Millie with her jeep and trailer was also a big help. Udar was there throughout, helping Mona and his group. - Lilou - |
Logs |
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When Laljibhai decided to put up a sugar factory here Mother asked Udar to help him. But as Laljibhai was not here and he had no office, everything fell on Udar. There was a lot of paper work to be done for obtaining the license and putting up the factory. All this was done from his office and by Honesty Engineers and Contractors in whose name the license was obtained. The construction work was taken up by H.E.C. and Udar used to go daily to the site to inspect personally the work. - Lilou -
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The land for the new Horizon sugar Mills |
Surveying the land for the N.H.S.M. Dyuman, Laljibhai, Udar |
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The Mother arriving at the New Horizon sugar Mills Udar,Laljibhai, Pavitra |
The Mother's Visit to new Horizon sugar Mills - 12th April 1959 Kesarimal, Dayabhai, Chandrakant, Amrita, Nolini, Udar, Laljibhai |
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The Mother's message on the foundation stone: " Faithfulness is the true basis of success."
New Horizon sugar Mills - Starting the construction |
TheMotherlayingthefoundationstoneforthenewH.S.M
New Horizon sugar Mills - Starting the construction |
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Manibhai Patel, came back to India from East Africa, where political and racial turmoil forced out Indians who had settled in Africa since long. When he came to Pondicherry, he wanted to start a flour mill. The Mother asked me to help him in his projects.
The first thing was to acquire the land. And we had to buy it from the small farmers, in small plots; we had to go to the farmers, we had to bargain with them, arrange to buy it. I had to do everything, and a friend called Asher was helping me. We had to go to buy the land, go to the registrar and get the name registered. Tremendous work from morning till night, which went on for days!
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Mother asked me to buy land outside Auroville. I went to see Roger Anger and asked him, "But tell me what is Auroville?" He said, "You go twelve miles outside Pondicherry and do what you like." So I took the driver and drove in the car, told him to drive slowly. Suddenly I felt a flash and asked the driver to stop. A man was ploughing a rice field. We asked him if he was ready to sell his land fore good price, he said, "I am not getting much out of it, so if you offer a good price I'll be ready to sell it to you." We asked him, "But what is a good price?" He told us something quite reasonable, he was not greedy; so I didn't bargain with him and he told his neighbours and little by little we bought the land. It meant a lot of work at the registration office, gathering signatures etc. and my friend Asher was of great help. -Udar- There was the question of getting the machinery, which was coming from abroad. There were two possibilities for the import of these machines - at Madras port or at Pondicherry. I felt we should bring the goods to Pondicherry - both because it would cost much less and it seemed wrong to off- load at Madras while we had our own port. The Mother supported my view and Manibhai ordered the ship to Pondicherry. When the ship arrived, it was a Greek ship, the captain was very disappointed to see the very inadequate crane facilities on the pier. He said it would be impossible to off-load the machinery with them. Now we had occasion to have many talks with the captain and spoke a great deal on Yoga and spiritual matters. He was inclined to be skeptical and finally said, "If you can off-load all the machines onto that pier, I will believe this talk of spiritual force. Seeing is believing." We left it at that. Among the machines there was one piece that weighed about 6 tons and the question was really about that piece as the cranes were only of 3 tons capacity each. I had said that we would lift it with two cranes working in tandem but the captain was rather doubtful. He said that tandem working was very difficult and needed highly trained cranesmen. Anyway, the work was taken up and Manibhai and I were present throughout. All the machines were unloaded without any hitch till we came to the last 6 ton piece. We decided that we would have a rest and do the work after lunch. When we went for lunch, those present felt they should continue and try to lift the big machine even in our |
The 6 ton fluting machine |
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absence. So a special double boat-lighter brought this machine to the quay-side and the two cranes were hitched on to the box. The captain, with his officers, was in the boat, far away, to watch the drama. All this we were told later as we had not been present. present. The cranes slowly lifted up the box till it came to the level of the quay-deck and then something happened and both the cranes tipped over. The cranesmen jumped out of the cranes and whole box and two cranes were falling into the sea. It would have been a very major accident involving the loss of 20 boatmen, the boats, the machine and the two cranes. But, in falling over, the crane jibs swung inwards and the box came over the deck and landed on it as on a cushion. Both the cranes then came upright again. At that time we came back from our lunch and found a great state of consternation and panic and then relief.
We looked for the captain. He went back at top speed to his ship and raised anchor and went off in
a
I told the whole thing to Mother, "Yes, Udar! I know the whole thing." Then, I said, "Mother, but why
"I also wondered about it. Udar, you have got a wonderful faith in me, but that particular moment
Once Sri Aurobindo was asked if faith had necessarily to be blind and He said, "If it is not blind, it is -Udar- |
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