Notes Anna Pavlova — Biographical Note Anna Pavlova was born on January 31, 1881. Her life's ambition crystallized in childhood, at a performance of The Sleeping Beauty ballet, at the Maryinski Theatre in St. Petersburg. "It never entered my mind," she remembered later, "that there were easier goals to attain than that of a principal dancer of the Imperial Ballet." At the age of ten she was admitted to a famous ballet academy and was soon singled out by her teachers. Bypassing the corps de ballet, Pavlova was accepted into the Maryinski company in 1899, and in 1905 was appointed to the rank of prima ballerina. Her performances were so popular that students would

Basic Programme for the Human Body (Extracts from "The Four Austerities and the Four Liberations") To pursue an integral education that leads to the supramental realization a fourfold austerity is necessary and also a fourfold liberation. Austerity is usually confused with mortification. When austerity is spoken of, one thinks of the discipline of the ascetic who seeks to avoid the arduous task of spiritualizing the physical, vital and mental life and therefore declares it incapable of transformation and casts it away with out pity as a useless burden, a bondage fettering all spiritual progress; in any case, it is considered as a thin

Mystery and Excellence of the Human Body Acknowledgements This book is the result of the cooperation of the following members of the research teams of the Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research, Auroville: Alain Antoine, Alain Bernard, Arjun Puri, Aryamani, Ashatit, Christine Devin, Deepti Tiwari, Frederick, Patricia Greer, Jivatman, Jyoti Madhok, Pala, Sanjeev Aggarwal, Sharanam, Serge Brelin General Editor: KIREET JOSHI We are grateful to many individuals in and outside Auroville who, besides the above mentioned researchers and general editor, have introduced us to various es

Tenzing on the summit of Everest, 1953 Tenzing Norgay Tiger of the Snows "Late in the morning of May 29, 1953, two mountaineers, named Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, stood for fifteen minutes on the summit of Mount Everest. They did what all climbers do when they have reached their goal: shook hands, took pictures, looked at the view, and started down again for the world below. That world, however, was to be very different from the one-they had left. For Tenzing, in particular, it was a world he never made and had never known. He went up the mountain as a simple man, but he came down a hero. And perhaps as much as any man in history he has r

Part I The Mysteries of the Human Body A Vision of Body and Spirit in the Mysterious Words of the Vedic Wisdom A mighty child in the womb, he is called the son of the body. Rig-Veda ffl.29.2 *** He discovered the truth the sun dwelling in the darkness. Rig-Veda, HI.39.5 *** The treasure of heaven hidden in the secret cavern like the young of the bird, within the infinite rock. Rig-Veda, 1.130.3 Page – 30 Follow the shining thread spread out across the mid-world

Pain In the 1850's, the Scottish explorer David Livingstone described his feelings when a lion attacked him: "He caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground.... Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier does a rat. The shock... caused a sort of dreaminess in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror." Livingstone's reaction was not unlike that of soldiers observed a century later in World War II. Field surgeons often marvelled at the fortitude of the many badly wounded men. At first, doctors theorized that the soldiers seemed oblivious to pain simply because they were glad to be alive. But many years — and scientifi

Notes List of Olympics in modern times Date Place Competitors Men Women Nations 1 1896 Athens, Greece 311 0 13 2 1990 Paris, France 1319 11 22 3 1904 St.Louis, U.S.A 681 6 12 1906 Athens, Greece 877 7 20 4 1908 London, U.K 1000 36 23 5 1912 Stockholm, Sweden 2490 57 28 6 1916 Berlin, Germany Cancelled 'because of World War I 7 1920 Antwerp, Belgium 2543 64 29 8 1924 Paris, France 2956 136 44 9 1928 Amsterdam, Holland 2724 290 46 10 1932 Los Angeles, U

Myth to History: The Roots of the Martial Arts Once primitive martial arts had reached the Far East they took root and began the gradual process of diversification into a number of sophisticated branches. Unfortunately there is very little evidence beyond myth, hearsay and speculation that relates to the early growth and spread of the martial arts. Yet fragments of information, drawn from the ancient literary and artistic traditions of China and India, suggest that the martial arts began to develop in these civilizations some time between the fifth century BC, when the mass manufacture of swords began in China, and the third century A

Man the Unknown (Extracts) The human body is placed, on the scale of magnitudes, halfway between the atom and the star. According to the size of the objects selected for comparison, it appears either large or small. Its length is equivalent to that of two hundred thousand tissue cells, or of two millions of ordinary microbes, or of two billions of albumin molecules, placed end to end. Man is gigantic in comparison with an electron, an atom, a molecule, or a microbe. But, when compared with a mountain, or with the earth, he is tiny. More than four thousand individuals would have to stand one upon the other in order to equal the height Of Mount Eve

Man the Unknown Introduction The young gymnast, a girl, is on the balance beam. What would be for most a precarious pose does not seem to be at all such for her. After a short moment of concentration, she flips backward once, twice, and again, and again till she reaches the exact end of the beam. A few years ago, the maximum was three backward flips on the balance beam. Now it is four.... What will it be tomorrow ? And this is only one of the numerous exercises where top gymnasts of the world show amazing qualities of suppleness, strength, agility, precision and often ethereal and effortless grace. We know that to re