References to Texts 13 (p. 24) Haradhan Bakshi, Documents in SAAA 14 (p. 24) Champaklal, Champaklal Speaks (2002), p. 75 15 (p. 25) The Mother, CWM, Volume 16, p. 3 C WM: Collected Works of the Mother 16 (p. 25) Punamchand, Documents in SAAA SA AA: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives 17 (p. 50) Ramakant Navelkar, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Drawing Office 18 (p. 77) Sahana Devi, Breath of Grace (1973), p. 108 1 (p. 2) Sahana Devi, At the Feet of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, pp

The Four Houses The Ashram Main Building By "Ashram" is meant the building in which the Mother and Sri Aurobindo lived. This building consisted of four small and big houses. They were at first separate; when the Ashram was formed they were one by one bought and, after they had been broken, repaired, their parts joined here and there or doors made, they were welded into one large building. These houses occupying the four corners in a rectangular fashion were constituted into one whole structure, which we call the Ashram. More correctly, it is the main building of the Ashram. When one enters here through the main gate, the two-storey building that

Perspectives and Elevations Pondicherry Town The plans for building the town of Pondicherry were first prepared by the Dutch and later developed by the French during their occupation. The oval shaped town had a series of parallel roads running east to west and north to south with roads on the periphery marking the limits of the town area. These roads were called the North, South, East and West Boulevards, beyond which were villages and agricultural lands. The town was practically divided by a Canal running from north to south, which carried drainage as well as rain water to the sea. To the east of this Canal were mostly administrative

The research and Compiler's Note in the book have been prepared by Raman Reddy. The drawings are by Ramakant Navelkar (Drawing Office). Some of the photographs are by Kiran Kakkad and some by Raju. The page setting and touching up of the old photographs has been done by Debabroto Roy under the supervision of Robi Ganguly. Finally Petra has helped in the graphics.

Photographs of Early Construction 1929 -1958 Construction of the Balcony Block Page-68 Nos travaux de construction sous la direction exclusive de disciples ingénieurs. Mere Translation: Construction work under the sole supervision of engineer-disciples. Mother Page-69 Balcony Block under construction View from north-east (Rue Saint Gilles) circa September 1929 Page-70 Page-71 The Balcony Block South view 2001

In Memory Sri Balakrishna Poddar (4 December 1933      12 May 1994 )   The man who spearheaded SABDA is no more. After a prolonged ailment Sri Balkrishna Poddar, the Director of SABDA, breathed his last in the Ashram nursing home on 12 May 1994 at 7.45 pm.  At the age of nineteen, a young and energetic Balkrishna joined the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The Mother immediately entrusted him with the work. of SABDA. Under her guidance he set out to make available to all the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and all his life strove to fulfill this mission.  All those who knew him admired him for his singl

THE BIRTH OF BLESSING PACKETS   The tiny Blessing packets, associated with our Ashram, are unique in themselves in many and varied ways.   They have travelled all over the world, may it be by road, steamships, naval vessels, or on ordinary yet adventurous country rafts, on aircrafts like helicopters, supersonics, air buses, gliders, balloons, or even by Migs, by trains, by cars, by buses, by bullock-carts. But most of all they have travelled on bicycles, placed with love and reverence in the pockets of devotees. They travel very often close to the hearts of people.   If the small Blessing packet is seen—in whichever co

Sunanda Poddar {Caretaker of "Srismriti", The Mother's Museum, From The Golden Path)   Where were you born and what was your family life like ? Were your parents spiritual or religious people ?   What were your special talents ? Did they manifest early in your childhood? What were your childhood ambitions and dreams ?     Were you aware of a spiritual presence in your childhood? When did you first begin to aspire deeply for the spiritual life?     When did you come to the Ashram for the first time and  when did you have darshan of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother?   When did you return for your final stay?  

Sri Aurobindo's  Writings on  Taraben   6.1.36   " You know that the Mother has entire confidence in you and entirely approves of your management of the godown and the kitchen , so there is no reason why you should be upset by the unreasonableness or accusations of people. Especially , Mridu is known by everybody to be violent in temper and unreasonable  what she says in her fits has no importance; She is constantly getting into them against the Mother even but the Mother knows her nature and takes no notice. What you should do when she is like that is to remain perfectly quiet and unconcerned and let her temper pass; her