Nala and Damayanti Acknowledgements 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 cooperation of the following members of the research team of the Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research, Auroville: Abha, Alain, Anne, Ashatit, Auralee, Bhavana, Christine, Claude, Deepti, Don, Frederick, Ganga, Jay Singh, Jean-Yves, Jossi, Jyoti Madhok, Kireet Joshi, Krishna, Lala, Lola, Mala, Martin, Mirajybti, Namrita, Olivier, Pala, Pierre, Serge,

Notes Vyasa "Of the Munis I am Vyasa" (Bhagavad Gita 10.37) First among the Munis: such was the place given to the Rishi Vyasa by ancient India. The name of Vyasa is common to many old authors and compiers, but it is especially applied to Veda-Vyasa or Krishna Dvaipayana.He was the son of Rishi Parashara and Satyavati. From his complex- ion (dark) he received the name Krishna, and from his birthplace (an island, dvip, in the Yamuna), the name Dvaipayana. He was a Rishi himself and is traditionally cited as the author of the Mahabharata and many other works, but he is best known as the compiler of the Vedas (Veda-Vyasa means "the one who arranged the Vedas").

Nala and Damayanti Once upon a time there was a king named Nala, who ruled over a people known as the Nishadas. Now this Nala was the. first of kings. In person he was strong and handsome, full of kingly honour, and gracious in his bearing. He loved archery and hunting, and all the sports of monarchs. And one special gift was his, in an extraordinary degree, the knowledge, namely, of the management of horses. Thus in beauty, in character, in fortune, and in power, there was scarcely in the whole world another king like Nala. If there were one, it could only be Bhima, King of the Vidarbhas, a sovereign of heroic nature and great courage, deeply loved by all

The adventures of Damayanti We insert here a few original extracts from the adventures of Damayanti, starting from the moment when she finds herself alone in the jungle till the time when she goes back to her parents' home. The reader will find side by side the original Sanskrit and a translation.::" chap 63 Brihadashva said OKing Yudhishthira! Nala had gone. Refreshed, the slender waisted Damayanti wakened, shuddering at the wood's silence. When she did not see her husband, afraid and anguished she cried aloud and called the King: "Maharaj! "Ha, lord! Ha, Maharaj! Ha, my prince! Why hast thou abandoned me?

6 'This was that, the work that Sri Aurobindo had given to me' And we come now to the decisive point which Mother has explained in her conversation with Satprem on l4th March 1970. 14.3.1970 .... And the action of this Consciousness... (how to say?) it is almost merciless in showing to what extent the whole mental construction is false—everything, even the reactions which look spontaneous, all that is the result of an extremely complex mental construction. But it is merciless. One is born into it and it seems so natural to feel according to it, to react according to it, to organise eve

Preface The more one studies Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, the more is one wonderstruck by the breathtaking sweep of their experimentation and their victorious achievements. It is impossible to present even a distant idea of the crucial significance of their realisations to the expanding horizons of knowledge and to the possibilities of evolution and mutation of the human species. What has been attempted in this book is to present only a few glimpses. It would be useful to explain some of the important terms that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have used in describing their experiences and realisations. In doing so, it would be necessary to present a brief account of what

-08_The Mother Continues Sri Aurobindo^s Work.htm The Mother with Jawaharlal Nehru, Kamaraj, Indira Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri at the playground of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry 5 The Mother Continues Sri Aurobindo's Work I am only realising what He has conceived. I am only the protagonist and the continuator of His work. This is what Mother wrote in answer to some people who wanted to get Mother nominated for the Nobel peace prize. While declining the proposal, she said that she did not want name and fame. As Mother explained: Some people wanted to get me nominated for the Nobel peace prize; I was asked for a statement and that's what I w

Sri Aurobindo emerged in the first decade of the century as a revolutionary leader of the struggle for India's freedom, who electrified the nation through his writings in the Bande Mataram and Karmayogin, and chalked out a radical programme of action which guided, in a significant measure, the future course of the struggle. The field of his work widened rather rapidly and after a series of yogic experiences, he withdrew in 1910 to Pondicherry and plunged into a more revolutionary struggle related directly to the evolutionary crisis through which mankind is passing today. In 1914, Mother (Mirra Alfassa) came to Pondicherry from France and joined Sri Aurobindo. Thus began a

3 The Mother Meets Sri Aurobindo On March 7, 1914, Mother was aboard the Kaga Maru sailing for Pondicherry. 'He whom we saw yesterday is on earth.' Thus Mother wrote in her Prayers and Meditations of her meeting with Sri Aurobindo on 29th March 1914. 'Exactly my vision'—she narrated much later on. He whom she was seeing in her vision since 1904 corresponded exactly with Sri Aurobindo. In her own words: I came here.... But something in me wanted to meet Sri Aurobindo all alone the first time. Richard went to him in the morning and I had an appointment for the afternoon. He was living in the house that's now part of the second dormitory, the o

4 Sri Aurobindo and The Mother An ocean of knowledge was poured by Sri Aurobindo in his monthly journal, Arya. By 1920, when Mother returned to Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo had already expounded in the pages of the Arya much of his studies which were not confined merely to philosophical and spiritual knowledge, but which extended also to fields of literature, psychology, and social and political thought. The all-embracing idea was, however, that of spiritual evolution, which subsumed within itself the latest knowledge of physics and biology. Warrior and hero of Indian independence, Sri Aurobindo had now scaled vast heights of knowledge and