The Dalai Lama’s First Visit to the Matrimandir Area.htm The Dalai Lama’s First Visit to the Matrimandir Area In the early 1970’s a workers camp was constructed at the ‘Center’ of the Matrimandir Area.  There were a number of rooms for the workers,  a meditation room, a kitchen and a  large dining area.  The construction was casuarina poles and a keet (coconut leaf) roof. One day we were in the dining area finishing a meal and a few Aurovilians were in the kitchen cleaning up when suddenly someone came running in and said, “The Dalai Lama is coming.” We hurried to clean the dining room, setting chairs and tables in place and cleaning the kitchen as quickly as possible.  I remember one o

A Walk in the Outer Gardens of the Matrimandir I had the opportunity last week to walk through a section of the Matrimandir outer gardens with two friends. It was an extraordinary hour spent in the presence of massive, kingly trees, flowers and fragrances. The eucalyptus were awe-inspiring, towering to great heights. Eucalyptus ptychocarpa was truly magnificent with its brilliant clusters of reddish-pink flowers. All was a revelation of Nature’s loveliness. These special children of ours, planted in the early to mid 1970’s, had many of the large pits dug by the Ashram boys who came out a midnight to work by the light of lanterns. Many

From the Journal, COLLABORATION – Summer 1975 NEWS OF AUROVILLE Matrimandir: The skeletal curve of the upper sphere is now plainly visible. A massive concreting was scheduled for the end of April. Aurovilians from all communities are devoting as much time as possible to carrying out the construction. The outer gardens around the Unite office have been planted with trees, which have taken root and appear to be thriving in spite of the drought. Patricia, who is coordinating the work, along with several helpers hand- waters the trees and shrubs. Rakelda, one of the Ashram’s oldest members, comes regularly to help Matrimandir Plant Nursery:

Article on the Matrimandir Gardens for 'The Seed Pod'.htm

Dear Dr Hanna, Richard Eggenberger has shared with us his great pleasure at meeting with you in April and has given to us a brief appreciation of your considerable achievements at the University of Georgia. We shouldlike to express our gratitude to you for making available to Richard the turf samples. With these we hope to dramatically reduce our water requirements whilst retaining the beauty of year round grass cover. To have available to us throughRichard the facility of your advise and your expertise is indeed a grace. With many thanks from the Matrimandir Team MichaelTait

Letter to an Aurovilian Concerning the Matrimandir Nursery and Gardens Regarding the plants in the Matrimandir Gardens and Nursery, we began with a palette virtually devoid of colour, not only in the Matrimandir but in Auroville as well in the very early 1970’s. When Mother gave me the charge to build the Gardens of the Matrimandir I set out in 1969 to find an area close to the Center, Peace, where the Matrimandir would be built. I selected a spot that would offer the most protection for the thousands of seedlings and cuttings that would be introduced. There was a grove of mango trees with a bullock path bordering one side, a canyo

My First Poem Next year, 2011, will mark fifty years since I met Mother and was given my initiation by Her.  When I first arrived  in the Ashram I was drawn to the Samadhi and the Service Tree, but perhaps even more so to the small meditation room at the top of the stairs and to the right after you enter the Ashram gate. It was in this small room where there is an old photograph of Sri Aurobindo. "I would kneel before it and often prostrate myself before One who was my guide and Lord." One day I asked Arabinda Basu why this room was so special to me and why the photograph was so important. "He replied simply, 'Because the Presence is there'. " There are two ev

Sri Aurobindo Integral Yoga Retreat: July 2010 by Narad Imagine, if you will, a time in your life when all worries, concerns, obligations, fears, challenges, etc. were gone, almost instantaneously, because you were in the presence of something so pure, so beautiful, and filled with such love and light, that no negativity, no hostile entity could enter into that force-field of absolute power, peace and calm, that atmosphere of purity and consecration. "This was the experience of many at this year's retreat in South Carolina." It was the Presence of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother felt each day as Their blessings and Grace filled the rooms and our h

Return From the Ashram March - April 2004 Suddenly all went dark and I no longer could feel within, the Presence. There descended on me the sorrow of the world and I felt the pain our "human" species inflicts upon its kind, the death of children, torture, humiliation and the Inconsolable grief of wives and mothers. All life seemed a vortex drawing down the soul, swallowing up goodness, nobility, honour and truth. And in this black hole I foundered and watched arise in me thoughts and actions and desires that I once had believed were conquered, and I realized the power of these malignant forces attempting to stay the descending light. Th