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OUR IDEALS (A few of the most important extracts of conversations and statements about Auroville in Mother's Agenda) August 1954 A DREAM There should be somewhere on earth a place which no nation could claim as its own, where all human beings of goodwill who have a sincere aspiration could live freely as citizens of the world and obey one single authority, that of the supreme truth; a place of peace, concord and harmony where all the fighting instincts of man would be used exclusively to conquer the causes of his sufferings and miseries, to surmount his weaknesses and ignorance, to triumph over his limitations and incapacities; a place where the need

-11_Lava and Kusa Sing the Ramayana in Sri Rama^s Court.htm vii) Luv and Kuśa sing the Rāmāyana in Śrī Rāma's Court The last Ordeal of Sita Canto LXXXXIV As the night passed and the day approached, both (Kuśa and Lava) having taken their bath and made offerings to the fire, sang (the poem) there as instructed formerly by the sage Vālmīki. That scion of Kakutstha heard that musical recitation accompanied with musical notes, never heard before, composed by the former teacher (Bharata). (1-2) Śrī Rāma was amazed on hearing (that song) set to the proper beat and tune and accompanied with the lute, from the two boys. (3) Then in the midst of the performance (of the

Illumination, Heroism and Harmony Preface The task of preparing teaching-learning material for value- oriented education is enormous. There is, first, the idea that value-oriented education should be exploratory rather than prescriptive, and that the teaching-learning material should provide to the learners a growing experience of exploration. Secondly, it is rightly contended that the proper inspiration to turn to value-orientation is provided by biographies, autobiographical accounts, personal anecdotes, epistles, short poems, stories of humour, stories of human interest, brief passages filled with pregnant meanings, reflective short essays written in w

Sri Rama The Beloved and Victorious Hero Published by Shubhra Ketu Foundation and The Mother's Institute of Research This monograph is part of a series on Value-oriented Education centered on three values : Illumination, Heroism and Harmony. The research, preparation and publication of the monographs that form part of this series are the result of the work and cooperation of several research teams of the Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research (SAIIER) at Auroville. General Editor: KIREET JOSHI Author of this monograph: Jyoti Madhok (Compilation of texts by Jyoti Madhok from Srimad Valmiki-Ramaya

-07_Hanuman Conveys Sri Rama^s Message to Sita.htm (iii) Hanūmān conveys Śrī Rāma's message to Sita Canto XXXI (Sundarakanda) Having indulged in speculation of various kinds, Hanūmān (who was endowed with extraordinary intelligence), they say, made the following sweet speech within the hearing of Sītā (a princess of the Videha territory): — (1) "In the line of the Ikswākus there was a highly illustrious and greatly renowned king named Daśaratha, who was given to meritorious deeds and owned excellent chariots, elephants and .horses. (2) Born in a line of universal monarchs, he was the foremost of royal sages in point of virtues, vied with seers in austerity and was a com

(vi) Sita is exiled Canto XLIII (Uttarakanda) Wise and witty narrators used to sit around the king reciting various kinds of stories. (1) Vijaya, Madhumatta, Kāśyapa, Mangala, Kula, Surāji, Kāliya, Bhadra, Dantavaktra and Sumāgadha used to narrate with great delight various kinds of humorous stories to the high-souled Rāma. (2-3) After sometime, during the course of the narration of a certain story, Śrī Rāma (a scion of Raghu) inquired: — "Bhadra! What are the talks of the town and the kingdom? (4) What are the people of the town and the country talking about me and about Sītā, Bharata and Laksmana and what indeed about Śatrughna and mother Kaikeyī ? Kin

APPENDICES I Sri Aurobindo on the Ramayana The pure literature of the period is represented by the two great epics, the Mahabharata, which gathered into its vast structure the greater part of the poetic activity of the Indian mind during several centuries, and the Ramayana. These two poems are epical in their motive and spirit, but they are not like any other two epics in the world, but are entirely of their own kind and subtly different from others in their principle. It is not only that although they contain an early heroic story and a transmutation of many primitive elements, their form belongs to a period of highly developed intellectual, ethical and social culture, i

Introduction I The epical story of Sri Rama has been an undying power of sustenance of the three great qualities that have characterised the idealism of Indian culture, viz., heroism that is spontaneously fearless and valorous, a human-divine tenderness that imparts restraint to exuberance, an over- flowing sweetness to the ingathered strength of virtue, and an indefatigable austerity that must end in triumph and celebration of victory. Sri Rama, the hero of the Ramayana is the human-divine light as fierce as the summer sun and also as tender as the rain of love, each drop of which, bears the healing charm of the splendid moon of the autumn. He is a mass

(iv) Śrī Rāma vanquishes and kills Rāvana Canto XCIX (Yuddhakanda) On seeing Mahodara and Mahāpārśwa killed, the notorious champion Virūpāksa, who was endowed with ex traordinary might, having (already) been struck down, a great rage actually seized Rāvana in the course of the great conflict. He urged on his charioteer and addressed to him the following words: so the tradition goes: — (1-2) "Killing the two princes, Rāma and Laksmana, I shall certainly get rid of the suffering caused (to me) on account of the ministers who have been killed and the city which has been laid siege to (by the monkeys). (3) In the fight I shall cut d