On the 29th February 1956, the Mother announced the manifestation of the supramental consciousness and light and force. Later Mother said that it was an event forerunner of the birth of a new world. I recommend that all should read what Mother has said on this, 'The Great Adventure'. This can be found in part from The Bulletin of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Nov. 1957, p. 93 and another part in Questions and Answers 1957-1958 pp. 129-131. It is after reading this that you will realise what an exciting and important moment is now on us. Then on the 1st January 1970 this force came into a definite phase of action, the first step as it were, the force to create the Superman. The descent of this force was felt by me and others at the Ashram and it was then that the Mother explained what it was and said that Sri Aurobindo had Himself come into Action in the world. The movement 'Sri Aurobindo's Action' started from that day. - Udar - |
Sri Aurobindo's Action inauguration - July 1970 Kireet, Kalyan, Prapatti,Udar, Nolini, Andre, Shyam Sunder, Pradyut |
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On tour for Sri Aurobindo's Action work Udar,Kireet |
In 1970 when Udar had been speaking to Mother about the degeneration of India, Sri Aurobindo's Action was founded in June that year with Mother as its Permanent President and Udar as the Secretary. Mother gave him the Mantra for the country:
Supreme Lord, Eternal Truth Let us obey Thee alone And live according to Truth.
A man of action, he toured various parts of the country with others to give talks on Sri Aurobindo's Action. - Sri Aurobindo's Action journal - Jan 2002
Udar and I travelled together all over India and shared our aspirations and work together. And as my elder brother, he extended loving care and guidance to me at every step of our joint work. During our tour he delivered nearly 250 lectures-all extempore - with force of inspiration and leonine courage. |
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Touring India for Sri Aurobindo's Action Work |
His devotion to the Mother was and is exemplary, and whenever I think of him, I feel as though he is imparting to me this sincerity and the delight of that devotion. - Kireetjoshi -
Udar came the other day to explain the genesis and aims of Sri Aurobindo's Action. He quoted Mother as saying: Conditions in India are critical and a foreign conquest and domination is possible. No amount of military and other preparations can avert the danger. That is because these difficult conditions have been deliberately created - to force a change... The change has to be in individuals. Leaders also have to change, but as individuals... Sri Aurobindo's teachings show the way. His word has to reach the people. Its Power is active and it will work. The aim of this Movement is to carry this Word of Power to the country.
Thus the work of this movement is totally different from that of other units so far. They aim to bring people here; this works to take Sri Aurobindo to them.
- M.P. Pandit - diary notes 11.8.1970 |
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In India we know that souls are not equal. From ancient times we have known that there are very highly evolved souls, but the largest number of souls are those just emerging out of the animal consciousness. So if you go by majority you will take the lowest consciousness of the people. That is why this democracy for India is completely false. - Udar-
It's not easy to predict who will open to Mother's. Force. When China attacked India, our army was in utter disarray. There was nothing to stop the Chinese forces advancing deep into India. Mother was displeased and kept repeating, "They must go away". But then, to everybody's surprise,-they turned round and went back. When I asked Mother what had happened, she said, "They were more open to me than the Indians." - Udar- |
At Vapi |
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Opening of the Institute of integral Education in Bhubaneswar - 15th July 1970 Udar, Mrs. Satpati, Prapatti |
Income tax is based on all kinds of rules and regulations and whatever they do people are cleverer than the government, they find ways to cheat and circumvent the rules. But in India if you ask them to give to the Divine, they are very willing - for that people must be made conscious that India is not a country, a piece of land, but the Divine Mother, the one they worship as Bharat Mata.- Don't ask them to give to you, but to give to the Mother. They will give, money will just pour in, in unbelievable quantities. - Udar -
Mother told me on another occasion what would be a spiritually guided government and what it would do. The first thing this government would do is to declare India a free country, free of many regulations. No passport, no visa; anybody can come, anybody can go. No import/export restriction; anything can come in and go out. Let things come in and out freely. All these duty restrictions are hampering the trade. People are afraid of such freedom but it will be a marvellous thing and people will benefit from it. Even if wrong people come in, what does it matter? Such a spiritually guided government will stamp out the wrong movements automatically. -Udar- |
Udar says that Mother told him this morning that the situation in India was grave. A great calamity threatens the country. He asked if we could do anything. Mother answered that the time for doing had gone. She was concentrating upon it all the 24 hours. Then Udar asked Mother to give a Mantra with which we could pray. She went into trance and then gave the Prayer:
"Supreme Lord, Eternal Truth Let us obey Thee alone and live according to Truth"
Udar wants it in Sanskrit before he leaves for Delhi tomorrow. I am taking it to Jagannath to express it in Sanskrit verse. Mother said She wanted to hear it. I read it. She nodded... Udar met me again. He said Champaklal has asked Mother what was the difference between mantra and prayer. Almost the same, - but with the difference; prayer is from the psychic, mantra in the mind. |
Orissa Centenary Conference - Guest of Honour : Prapatti,Babaji,Udar,Kireet |
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It struck me how close She is to the derivation: manana trayate mantrah...' She told me that there is a vibration in the mantra, mental understanding and stability are brought upon it. In prayer there is intensity of aspiration, canalisation of emotions. If both are combined, the results are wonderful.
-M.P. Pandit-
diary notes 6.6.1971, pp. 191-192
At the present moment we are busy with the arrangements of the First Youth Camp being organised by us in co-operation with the Government of India in connection with the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Celebration program.
This scheme is briefly as follows. It is proposed to have one camp every month for fifteen days. Twenty selected youths will participate in each camp, drawn generally from one particular zone of the country in each camp. This is to give some cohesiveness and yet to make the camps broad-based.
The youth will generally be selected from colleges, but there will also be a proportion for non-student youth. It is suggested that the selection will be made from chosen high schools and colleges by the principals as a result of oratorical or essay contests on the five works of Sri Aurobindo connected with this movement, i.e. The Ideal of Human Unity, The Human Cycle, The Foundations of Indian Culture, A System of National Education and the first three chapters of The Supramental Manifestation Upon Earth.
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An Appeal to the Youth: Let us get together and work together for a new world. It is now pressing to be born so let us together see how we can bring about the most favorable conditions for the new life which, after all, you yourselves are going to inherit and then pass on to future generations. Let us first see what each of us has to offer in this dialogue which we now propose. On your side you have energy, vitality, zest, a deep dissatisfaction with the existing state of things and a burning wish for a change - for a revolution. On our side we bring a sense of direction and a great inspiration and guidance combined with the drive of a great force for realisation. If these can be put to work together there is nothing that can stop us. Please let us try to do this - for our country and for the world, for the present and for the future. The great force for realisation, which we have mentioned, is that given to us by Sri Aurobindo. That is why we call this movement as His Action. - Udar- (in his address to the Youth Camp) |
Youth Camp group photo 1971 - Pondicherry |
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Commerce under Sri Aurobindo's Guidance
Truth, Surrender, Business
Such a mix up, at first sight! What have these three in common? Let us find out by first defining, or rather getting at the essence of the meaning of these three words. About Truth first. In Savitri Sri Aurobindo says,
"And Truth has her throne on the shadowy back of doubt." p. 4
This is not very encouraging for the seeker of Truth. It is indeed so that the moment one speaks of Truth, doubt first throws its shadow. In the book, Champaklal Speaks, he recounts the story of Mother asking those with Her what each understood by this very word 'Truth', and She liked best the answer given by Champaklal which was: |
C.U.S.A.G. - 6th March 1973 "Commerce under Sri Aurobindo's Guidance",blessings, |
"There is no need to define truth; if one is sincere, one knows what truth is."
This can also be seen in the little story that follows. There was once at Madras an American scientist with a very keen and highly developed mind who was in charge of a large project there. He was a good friend of mine and we had had several discussions on Yoga, particularly the Integra] Yoga of Sri Aurobindo. But he always affirmed with great insistence that unless his mind could fully comprehend a thing he could not accept it as true. But once he did make an admission to me which, he said, he had never made to anyone else. There had been certain brief moments in his life when he came face to face with something which he knew with absolute certainly, was the Truth and yet could not understand with his mind why it was so. Hence he did grudgingly admit that there may be a higher instrument of knowledge than the mind, although he was not prepared to agree with what I explained to him quoting from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother that the mind is not at all an instrument of knowledge; it is an instrument for using and organising the knowledge that comes in through a higher faculty.
So much for Truth. What of surrender and how does it come in? Again turning to Sri Aurobindo in Savitri we find:
"This Light comes not by struggle or by thought; "
In the mind's silence the Transcendent acts
And the hushed heart bears the unuttered Word.
A vast surrender was his only strength."
p. 375
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How does surrender bring strength? It is because one does not have to depend on one's own direction which most often is obscure and leads to difficulties and defeat. In surrendering to a higher knowledge and guidance one can be certain of the way and is not afraid or worried. Then, as Sri Aurobindo has written in the Karmayogin "one works perfectly and with love and zeal and casts away the anxiety for results and is neither eager for victory nor afraid of defeat."
Here is an example: Once there was an American lady in the Ashram who became mentally deranged and Mother asked me to take her at once to the hospital at Vellore, about 150 miles from Pondicherry. They have a fine psychiatric department there and also it is run by Americans. So I arranged to take the lady there at once by car. There was another American lady who accompanied us as she also wanted some medical treatment. This other lady asked me if I had telephoned the Vellore Hospital and made an appointment etc. I said that there was no time for all this. Mother had said to go at once and so I was going as quickly as possible. The lady gave me a long lecture on what she said was the wrong way I was doing Mother's work. I should do it as perfectly as possible and make all arrangements ahead etc., etc. In short, she gave me a lecture on how I should do the Yoga, I replied that I was just following Mother's orders implicitly and that was my way. The lady was not satisfied. When we reached the Vellore Hospital, I saw a man coming down the stairs and asked him to direct us to the psychiatry department. He smiled and said that he was the doctor concerned and if I had come earlier or later I would not have met him. The mentally deranged lady was admitted within a few minutes. The other lady who had given me the long lecture was silent and saw clearly now how an act of unquestioning acceptance and surrender can work. But what has all this to do with business? This can be again best explained by another story. Early in 1973 someone wanted to start a chain of stores as work for the Mother and asked for Her Blessings through me and for a name for the business. The Mother gave Her Blessings and a wonderful name 'Commerce Under Sri Aurobindo's Guidance'. Later on, when I found that this was not being taken up seriously Mother told me that She had given that name for me to use and further explained that it was an extension of Sri Aurobindo's Action whereby His Light and Force would enter into what was a dark and false area and so bring the power of money under the direction of the Light of the Truth. There was a still darker area beyond this, Mother said, that of politics and She asked me if I was ready for that. I prayed to Mother to please save me from this pit. Mother laughed and said, "All right, not now, Udar. But later, the day will come when His Light must enter there also. No part of human life can be left out of His work of transformation." -Udar-
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The Orissa Mining Corporation wanted houses for the miners at their Iron Ore Project at Daitari. The plan that I eventually made was for a single Prototype House with two rooms, 340 x 260 cms in size, a kitchen cum dining room of 480 x 140, a bathroom of 110 x 140 and W.C. of 90 x 140, the whole covering a plinth area of 34.04 square meters which is 386 square feet. The plans called for the foundations and plinth in solid cement - concrete blocks and the walls in hollow blocks. The roof design was the most interesting part as we proposed to make them in Ferro-Cement, catenary curved. Now Ferro-Cement for roofing is being used very widely in other countries but has not yet been introduced into India. As far as I know, except at Auroville and in the Ashram, it has not been done anywhere in India and several engineers have not even heard of it. So it is really a new technique for India.
Udar and a young boy - Low cost building sample - Orissa |
Model of Low Cost house for Orissa - Udar and Workers
To build these roofs and learn the technique myself I had to request the help of Pierre who had worked on this in France and then at Auroville and now also at the Ashram. He came with Gerard to build the two roofs of the house. Anil pf H.E.C. also sent his supervisor, Mr. lyer, to help me. Then, again, the Concrete Association of India, Calcutta, were most helpful. They sent me first their technical expert and then their demonstrator to actually have the blocks made at the site. The roofs were made in Ferro-Cement cast in-situ, with the steel mesh etc. also placed and tied in-situ. It has a thickness of only 3 cms. Then over this we gave a plaster coat made from iron ore dust, sand and mica. This gives it not only a waterproof surface but also a heat and cold insulation. The roofs were then painted white. The house looks really beautiful - all dark red, with white roofs against the deep green of the forest. One can get some idea from the photograph but not as much as if it were a coloured print. - Udar - |
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1 have a very positive proposition to make on the subject of drought in Orissa. I had already foreseen this drought in 1975 and had made my proposals very forcefully but they were turned down or shelved by the powers that be because they were quite unusual and different from traditional thinking. So now I repeat, in brief, my proposals here so that the people affected may know of them and press for their implementation after they have been proved by trial. The proposal I have made is that which is known as Soilless Culture. This system is being largely used in other countries particularly in Israel and the desert areas of the USA so why should it not be used in India? Much research has already been done in this system and it is quite well known but all these experiments have been on a small scale or in demonstration units. It has never been taken up for actual implementation anywhere in India. So Orissa can give a lead to the whole country if it takes it up soon.
By this method, large quantities of food grain and vegetables can be grown with the use of very little water when compared with normal soil farming. This is because the water used is constantly recycled and not v j lost into the soil as in ordinary farming. |
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The plants are grown in beds constructed in masonry above the ground, filled with inert material like sand and gravel which is thoroughly washed and sterilised. The food for the plants is dissolved in water stored in a Nutrient Tank. The nutrient solution is pumped into the beds and brought back at once into the tank. So once the tank is full it serves for one full crop season and needs only a little make-up water daily. Hence the system is quite independent of rain or irrigation canals or bore wells etc.
-Udar-
28th December 1976
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