Nolinida - A Remembrance in Reverence In the mid to late 1970’s I had a series of remarkable nightly visits from Nolinida. To the waking consciousness little remains, which is as it should be, yet the remembrance of his of his kind and gentle teaching holds a sweetness to which I return again and again. Nolinida was for many a formidable force who often displayed a fierce demeanor, causing one to think twice about coming before him. Yet something in me knew that he was only acting as the lion at the gate, giving one pause to reflect on whether an issue was important enough to take up his time. To me, however, he always lowered the mask so that

Felix and Lyudmila Mary Helen and I visited St. Petersburg, Russia and spent an evening with disciples of Mother and Sri Aurobindo, some of them who are in Auroville today. One day, coming off the ship we had taken through the Baltic countries, we heard a man and his wife talking in Russian and English about what they wanted to see in St. Petersburg that day. I went up to them and asked if we could share a taxi together as we

Parichand Diary 2004 My dear friend and brother, Chamanlal, gave me a book on Parichand's life, a gift from Sumantra. Parichand, of course, was my elder brother and we shared a closeness impossible to put in words. Visiting him frequently, we would talk about flowers, share new plants, seeds, etc., but most of all, Parichand would speak of Mother. His presence was filled with light as he would tell us stories about Mother and often, in his cheerful and simple way, resolve problems of day to day life on the many occasions we visited him. One could have no sadness or doubt or pain in his

Narad Remembers Amal Kiran – A Tribute Those who have known Amal Kiran know also that he was born K.D. Sethna and that Sri Aurobindo gave him his spiritual name, Amal Kiran, 'A Clear Ray'. My first contact with Amal was a most memorable one. When poems first began to descend in me in the late 1960's I wrote to Amal who was then Editor of Mother India and he told me Sri Aurobindo said it was His journal. Although I knew nothing about prosody and my earliest attempts at receiving clearly the lines that were coming down were poorer than

A Humorous Remembrance From the Matrimandir Gardens Nursery The research into various composting techniques at the Nursery was extensive and ongoing. We studied the proven techniques of Albert Howard, Rodale, the UC composting methods as well as newer methods that came with people from many countries. One of the latest experimental systems was brought to us by friends from Brazil. Today we use both aerobic and anaerobic systems including experiments with EM - Effective Micro-organisms. Along with composting was our never-ending search for ideal soil mixes for all the different species we were

Dyumanbhai - The Soul Remembers Matrimandir Gardens During the 1970's many Ashramites would come to visit us at the Matrimandir Gardens Nursery, a living germ plasm bank where plants were introduced from all areas of the tropical and sub-tropical world. The numerous species were studied for a number of years to note how well they acclimatized, their cultural aspects, including soil preference, fertilizing requirements, flowering period, dormancy, resistance to insects and disease, drought tolerance, growth rate, how they harmonized with other plants, whether they bore seeds, how ea

HARINDRANATH CHATTOPADHYAYA Remembrances from Amal and Tehmi shared with Narad Amal told me that the numbers of poems coming through to Harin was so great that he would sit at his typewriter all day and write line after line. In fact, Amal said, he wrote one lakh lines of poetry in one year. Amal said that after Harin left the Ashram he no longer had Sri Aurobindo's guidance and presence filling him with the muse of poetry and all his work after that was mediocre. Amal says that Harin returned some years later and when he (Amal) showed him the poetry he had written in the Ashram, Harin wept.

Narad Remembers Kailasbhai My reminiscences are few as I only knew Kailasbhai in his later years when he was still active physically and would tell me stories in his deep, resonant, mellifluous voice, stories of his friend, Nagin, and of his own experiences. I would listen to his words and the sounds of his words and look upon the joy in his face and the light that was for ever in his eyes. We would sit together in his room and I would listen, rapt in the beauty of his experiences, a few of which I relate below. He loved the children and at 9:30 was there to give

January 30, 2003 I met an extraordinary soul outside the Ashram at the end of January 2003. He introduced himself to me as Vishwa. A tall, majestic figure with a white beard and pure white hair and brilliant blue eyes that seemed to encompass all the joy of life and smile on all with graciousness and humour. When he spoke his voice was strong and clear and filled with love. He said, “I am 90 years old and I have explored all this world. Now I will soon leave this body to continue to visit the higher worlds of beauty. My soul will go on without the body but I will never forget your soul!” Towards the end of my stay in the Ashram I met him again. I found him in a corner o

Remembering Daniel Wilms Disciple, Friend and Brother July 29, 2003 To All Disciples of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo: Today, on my birthday, I received a letter from Daniel Wilms' wife, Chika, informing me of his passing last night, the day on which I had sent him some poems, as he had been so strongly in my consciousness this past week. Daniel first came to the Matrimandir Gardens through my friend and elder brother, Louis Allen, with whom he had been working at the Lake Estate. When Daniel began work at the