The Mother on Savitri         (a report written from memory)        Do you read Savitri?      Yes, Mother, yes.    You have read the whole poem ?         Yes, Mother, I have read it twice.    Have you understood all that you have read ?         Not much, but I like poetry, that is why I read it.         It does not matter if you do not understand it - Savitri, read it always. You will see that every time you read it, something new will be revealed to you. Each time you will get a new glimpse, each time a new experience; things which were not there, things you did not understand arise and suddenly become clear. Always an unexp

 Sri Aurobindo's Interview with Purani         I had an introduction to Shri V. V. S. Aiyar who was then staying at Pondicherry. It was in December 1918 that I arrived in Pondicherry. I did not stay long with Mr. Aiyar. I took up my bundle of books - mainly the Arya volumes - and went to 40, Rue Francois Martin, the Arya office, which was also Sri Aurobindo's residence. The house looked a little queer, — on the right, as one entered, were a few plantain trees and by its side a heap of broken tiles. On the left, at the edge of the open courtyard were seen four doors giving entrance to four rooms. The verandah outside was wide. It was about eight in the morning. The time for meeting Sr

 Sri Aurobindo's Interview with Purani         I had an introduction to Shri V. V. S. Aiyar who was then staying at Pondicherry. It was in December 1918 that I arrived in Pondicherry. I did not stay long with Mr. Aiyar. I took up my bundle of books - mainly the Arya volumes - and went to 40, Rue Francois Martin, the Arya office, which was also Sri Aurobindo's residence. The house looked a little queer, — on the right, as one entered, were a few plantain trees and by its side a heap of broken tiles. On the left, at the edge of the open courtyard were seen four doors giving entrance to four rooms. The verandah outside was wide. It was about eight in the morning. The time for meeting Sr

      The Mother's Interview with Purani         After seeing one or two institutions, we made for the parade ground. Mother came in tripping lightly from the tennis court dressed in the same manner as before, her blue-green scarf fluttering in the wind round her neck.         Then she went into a small office, where, a few minutes later, I was ushered in. She sat on a high-backed small chair, her feet on a footstool. Her eyes were transparent, almost clear as crystal.         I told her of my personal problems, of my old struggles, of Sri Aurobindo's message and the message of the Gangotri.         She replied in a quiet, firm tone, in a simple straightforward way

   Udar Pinto's Visit to Savitri Bhavan         How will Sri Aurobindo and the Mother come back?         I asked the Mother one day, "Mother, how will Sri Aurobindo come back? Will he be born?" Because I can't imagine Sri Aurobindo coming as a baby, I told Mother. She said, "No Udar, he will not be born, he will not come as a baby. He will come ready-made, projected into the world." Ready-made: that is, a complete being, that will remain like that: it will not grow older, it will remain constantly the same being. And in Savitri come these lines, in the canto called "The House of the Spirit and the New Creation":         In these new worlds projected he becme    A portion

  Spiritual Life         (Compiled from notes and letters of Sri Aurobindo)         Sri Aurobindo began his practice of yoga in 1904. Even before this, several experiences had come to him spontaneously, "of themselves and with a sudden unexpectedness". There was, for instance, the mental experience of the atman or true Self, which he had while reading the Upanishads in London in 1892. The next year a "vast calm" descended upon him the moment he stepped on Indian soil after his long absence in England. This calm surrounded him and remained for many months afterwards. Also in 1893 Sri Aurobindo had a vision of the Godhead surging up from within when he was in danger of a carri

  An Interview with William Greaves         Tell us how you discovered Pondicherry.         It's an interesting story. It happened way back in 1950, in Harlem. I was attending some lectures on ancient African history and there happened to be two Indian students in the study group. One was Balkrishna Shelar and the other one was named Ram. I can't recall his last name. After class, the three of us would get together and have these stimulating discussions, and often we would end up in the basement of the new Indian consulate where they were lodged. They would make curry and we would continue our discussions and even the occasional argument. One day we were arg

   1973 Conversations with the Teachers         (The six conversations held with one or two teachers of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, in 1973, are the last recorded statements of the Mother on the subject of education.)         8 February 1973         A: What is the best way of preparing ourselves, until we can establish a new system?         Naturally, it is to widen and illumine your consciousness — but how to do it? Your own consciousness... to widen and illumine it. And if you could find, each one of you, your psychic and unite with it, all the problems would be solved.         The psych

 "WHO IS SRI AUROBINDO?"         ONCE in the early years of my life in the Ashram I wrote to Sri Aurobindo. "How people calling to Shiva or Krishna or their Ishta Devata get responses from you 1 don't understand." He replied, "Who is Shiva? and also who is Krishna? and what is an Ishta Devata? There is only one Divine, not a thousand Divines." Myself: "It would mean that wherever a sincere heart is aspiring for the Divine, his aspiration reaches your ears." Sri Aurobindo: "Why my ears? Ears are not necessary for the purpose. You might as well say. reaches me by the post." I then protested, "No, Sir, I am satisfied with you as Sri Aurobindo pure and simple. I don't need anybody else." He

   On Dates 1.2.'34, 2.3.'45, ... 4.5.'67           (Next month we shall have the date 6.7.89 - the numbers occurring consecutively. Last year, in July 1988, we had brought out a special number of All India Magazine on "Significance of Numbers". The following excerpts from the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother had not been included in that compilation.)         Q: Sweet Mother, people are saying many things about the 4th of May (1967)1 — sometimes You too are quoted. But in spite of all this, I have not quite understood its significance.         Is it necessary that it should have a significance?         Sri Aurobindo announced that from that date onwards so