7. DISTANT CHART READING This is where memory becomes a help to the eyes. Two identical charts are used. One of them is hung on the wall and the patient holds the other. The patient reads with blinking the distant chart. When he is unable to do so, he looks at the chart in his hand and then keeps his eyes closed for half a minute. Then with gentle blinking, he looks at the distant chart and tries to make out the letter without straining or squinting. After some time the patient is, with the help of the memory, able to visualize the letter and

  1. SUN TREATMENT This exercise is very important and everybody should practice it. The right way to do this exercise is to sit or stand facing the sun with the eyes closed and then swings the body gently from side to side like a pendulum for two to five minutes. Morning and evening are the best times for sun treatment. This treatment becomes more effective if honey is applied with a glass rod. This gives better results and relieves strain and pain more quickly.

  4. READING FINE PRINT IN CANDLE-LIGHT Reading fine print or photographically reduced print is a very good exercise for myopia and causes no discomfort. The fine print booklet must be placed below the chin and should be read at the distance from which it is seen best. This distance will vary for every individual. Blink twice in each line and shift the head along the line. This is to be done for two to five minutes. It should be done in candlelight and then in good light. If any pain or discomfort is felt, the reading may be avoided.

  5. SWING This exercise is done before a window with vertical iron bars. Stand with the feet apart and sway gently from side to side like a pendulum. In doing so one should look beyond and through the bars, and blink at each end. It should be done for five to ten minutes.

  8. VAPOUR A bowl of water is heated to form steam and a few drops of eucalyptus oil are dropped in. Lean over the bowl and blink in the rising vapour for a minute or two. 

Department       Philatelic activities began in the Ashram because Mother had an interest in stamps since her childhood. Pavitra-da (Monsieur St. Hilaire) was the first collector in the ashram. In France he had many albums, at least eight or ten. With the  Mother’s approval he got his stamp albums from France and started the stamp collection work. This was in the late 1920s.     This work was being done in Pavitra-da's own room in the main Ashram building, upstairs where Mother used to come daily. At times she would see the collection which was kept in Pavitra-da's bed room, the room through which Mother used to pass while going to give Balcony Darshan. There he had a

      OM NAMO BHAGAVATE The first word, OM , represents the supreme invocation, the invocation to the Supreme. The second word, NAMO, represents total self-giving, perfect surrender. The third word, BHAGAVATEH, represents the aspiration, what the manifestation must become — Divine. When I sit in meditation or I have a minute of quiet for concentration, this mantra arises from the solar plexus, and there is a response in the cells of the body: they all start vibrating. Everything gets filled with Light! The Mother        

 Mantras I have also come to realize that for this sadhana of the body, the mantra is essential. Sri Aurobindo gave none; he said that one should be able to do all the work without having to resort to external means. Had he reached the point where we are now, he would have seen that the purely psychological method is inadequate and that a japa is necessary, because only japa has a direct action on the body. So I had to find the method all alone, to find my mantra by myself.   And I repeat my mantra constantly - when I am awake and even when I sleep. I say it even when I am getting dressed, when I eat, when I work, when I speak wi

        Sri Aurobindo’s Gayatri Mantra   Sri Aurobindo’s Gayatri Mantra : Om Tat Savitur Varam Rupam, Jyoti Parasya Dhimahi Yannah Satyena Dipayet.   [Tat = That, Savitur = Sun-god who is the Creator, Varam = most auspicious, Rupam = form, Jyotih = Light, Parasya = of the Lord (since para = Transcendental), Dhimahi = meditate on (since Dhi = Intellect), Yannah = by which, Satyena = Truth, Dipayet = illumine (dipa = light) ] Note: According to M.P.Pandit, the original Gayatri Mantra was intended for illumining the intellect, while Sri Aurobindo’s modification of th