Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Shikha Guha's courage, dedication, discipline and sense of dignity made her unique

The Hindu November 23, 2015
Around 100 people from Puducherry, Auroville, NGOs, schools and colleges gathered on Beach Road to show their support as activist Pushpanath ...
Among Mr. Krishnamurthy's supporters were children of the Satya Special School, Puducherry, who walked with him for a short distance and children from the Udavi School in Auroville who are also participating in a walk.
“Fair Trade offers producers a better deal and improved terms of trade. It allows them the opportunity to improve their lives and invest in their future, their environment and their communities,” according to Fairtrade India.
Fair Trade is an alternative approach to conventional trade based on a partnership between producers and traders, businesses and consumers.
What is a Fair Trade Town?
“Any community that makes a collective commitment to Fair Trade. Each Fair Trade Town campaign is unique but all Fair Trade Towns bring people together and raise awareness and understanding of trade issues,” according to the website of Fair Trade Towns.
“FAIRTRADE Mark appears on products that meet Fairtrade standards and come from Fairtrade producer organisations.”

23.11.2015 Radio
‘Go Push go’ were the words heard from the group of people supporting Pushpanath for the 450 km long walk, which commenced from Gandhi Thidal in Pondicherry on the 20th of November, Friday.
The intention of the walk is to create awareness about climate change and support the newly proposed Fair Trade Twin Towns – Pondicherry and Auroville.
Even though the 64 year old activist has ‘ageing legs’, as he said, the ‘extra-ordinary’ downpour of rain, in fact encouraged him more for the walk, as the cause for the same was more important and needed for the living community around the globe.
The first stop being Auroville, we saw Push sipping cups of chai and grabbing some pieces of cake at the Visitor’s Centre. Listen to what he has to say about the incredible journey and his ideas of climate change.
Join hands with him by knowing more about his stops between Pondicherry and Ooty, his final destination. The walk ends on the 10th of December!

TNN | Nov 24, 2015
KOLKATA: Shrimati Shikha Guha, who left her physical body in the afternoon of November 23, 2015 was an inspiring figure in the truest sense of the term. In 1972, a meeting with The Mother at Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry changed the course of her life. Subsequently, like Shrimati Joya Mitter, she rendered selfless service to Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture and The Futrure Foundation School in many roles and dimensions. 
She provided exemplary leadership in making Arun Nursery School a name to reckon with. It was largely through her efforts that a new campus of the school was opened at Satindra Pally, Garia. She also played a significant role in the foundation and growth of Sri Aurobindo Vidyabhawan, Balichak. 
Shrimati Shikha Guha's courage, dedication, discipline and sense of dignity made her unique. However, what endeared her to one and all was her unparalleled grace and capacity to love everyone from the innermost core of her heart.

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Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Pandey, Cornelissen, Seidlitz, Hartz, Reddy, and Manasi Pahwa

Next Future Magazine
Grace - There is grace in all that is given And grace in all that is not And grace in all that […] The post Grace appeared first on Next Future Magazine.

How to Receive the Divine Grace  / Jun 15, 2005 4:50 PM
…helpless.  At such times very naturally we call the Divine and invoke the Grace to pull us out of our difficulties.  But the question arises: Question : How should one call the Divine Grace?  How can we open to it and receive it?     “First of all you must feel the need for it. This is the most imp… 10
Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore
Humility - *Adorable in its simplicity * *Botanical Name*: Agrostis nebulosa *Common Name: *Dropseed *Spiritual Significance*: *Humility * Humility is the recogni...

The Hindu-8 hours agoThe Sri Aurobindo Centre for Advanced Research is holding a day-long study camp on ‘Yoga as Practical Psychology’ from November 20 to 22 at SACAR at Vaithikuppam.
Deeper psychology
Focusing on yoga as ‘nothing but deeper psychology’, the unique camp attempts to bring out the relationship between yoga and psychology, said a note from the organisers.
Speakers at the camp will look at the similarities and dissimilarities between the classical Indian psychology and Integral psychology as envisioned by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
Speakers
Speakers at the camp will include Alok Pandey (‘Indian Psychology and Integral Psychology’) Matthijs Cornelissen (‘Why Yoga and Psychology need each other?’), Larry Seidlitz (Practices of Integral Yoga), Richard Hartz (Developing the Intuitive Mind), Ananda Reddy (Stages of the emergence of the psychic being) and Manasi Pahwa (Man in the light of Integral Yoga Psychology).
Those interested in participating in the event can write to sacarstudycamps@gmail.com or call 99941 90403 or 94430 19172.
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Monday, November 16, 2015

Many of Auroville’s youngsters hardly know of Sri Aurobindo

Sincerity Blog by Ramesh Bijlani Nov 15, 2015
In ordinary day-to-day affairs, sincerity means saying what we mean, and doing what we say. Sincerity implies lack of all pretensions. Lack of sincerity is a subtle form of deception. Like charity, sincerity begins at home. We have to first learn to be sincere with ourselves. Suppose I smoke, and I decide to give up smoking. What determines my success is how sincere I am about the desire to give up smoking. Insincerity is likely to express itself through reasons: I want to give up smoking, but ‘my life is full of stress’, ‘to give up smoking is very difficult’, ‘my will-power is weak’, ‘my friends don’t let me do it’, and so on. If I am sincere, I will consider all these reasons to be mere excuses, and I will acquire the will-power to overcome all these difficulties.

Sincerity is the one thing that is needed the most also on the spiritual path. First, the aspiration for spiritual growth should be sincere. Sincerity of aspiration means that I should be interested in the Divine for the sake of the Divine, not for the satisfaction of the ego or some worldly desires, or as a pretense because spirituality is the in-thing among the rich and fashionable. Secondly, sincerity is needed for doing what is right, and rejecting what is wrong. The inner voice, emanating from the psychic being, tells us what is right and what is wrong. Listening to the voice needs sincerity because temptations and calculations of worldly gain and loss are sure to supply many reasons why the authentic voice of the psychic being may be ignored or suppressed.

Total sincerity takes time to cultivate. But at least a person on the spiritual path should not be “fundamentally insincere”, to use an expression of Sri Aurobindo. Being conscious of insincerity is itself a step forward, because it implies a desire to get rid of the insincerity. A person who is not even conscious of his insincerity is, according to the Mother, not insincere but wicked. To him, sincerity is an alien concept.

We generally know what to do or keep away from. Sincerity helps us put the knowledge into practice. A gram of practice is worth a kilo of knowledge. In fact, one who has the knowledge but does not translate it into practice is much worse than someone making the same mistakes because he does not have the knowledge. The Mother called sincerity “the key to the divine gates”. The Divine is within us as well as all around us, and yet we do not see it because ‘a locked gate’ conceals the Divine from us. The analogy comparing sincerity with the key that can unlock the gate tells a lot. Like a key, sincerity does easily what is otherwise almost impossible. Like a key, sincerity unlocks the gate silently. Like a key, sincerity unlocks the gate to the Divine from within, rather than by hammering at the lock from outside. Approaching the Divine involves sincere and silent work that goes on within. The work consists of listening carefully to the dialogue between the head, the heart and the soul; and when there is a conflict, acting upon the voice of the soul. The work also consists of using the uneasiness that follows every lapse as an opportunity for inner churning that culminates in the resolve to be sincere in future. That is why sincerity is indispensable for spiritual growth.

Welcome to Auroville Today Issue No: 316, November 2015

What is Spirituality? A Reflection by Young Aurovilians
The article “Auroville’s spirituality” in the August-September 2015 issue of Auroville Today contains a section on the Auroville schools. Concern is expressed that many of Auroville’s youngsters hardly know of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother and that most of the Auroville schools do not communicate anything of their vision. Inge, an Auroville youth who recently returned to Auroville after finishing her degree in The Netherlands, felt inspired to explore different definitions of spirituality among the youth, and whether young Aurovilians are indeed upset about not having been taught about the The Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s vision in Auroville schools. She spoke to many young Aurovilians about it. Here are her reflections and her summary of the responses she received. Having grown up here, I’ve heard the words ‘spiritual’ and ‘spirituality’ a lot, often in different contexts. When I left Auroville in 2008 to further my educa... >> More

Auroville's Relationship to India
From left: Kumbha, Kathy, Abha and Alain Four long-term Aurovilians involved in village development and commerce talk about Auroville and India.   How would you describe Auroville’s relationship to India? Kumbha: We are a bubble, absolutely. There’s a lot going on in Auroville, and there’s a lot going on in India outside. Link-ups between the two are increasingly happening, but not so much.  From a business point of view, the opportunity offered by India is huge, but I don’t think we are close to capitalising on all the opportunities out there.  Why? It’s partly because of our ‘style’ which is a bit laid-back, and partly because some people feel we did not come here to do business. These are two quite large reasons why I think we’re not embracing India more. Alain: It’s a matter of perspective. Some Aurovilians are more inward-looking, focussed upon what is happening here, others are naturally more oriented to the world outside. There’s a lot of ma... >> More

www.vedah.com/
Sri Aurobindo Kapali Shastry Institute of Vedic Culture is a spiritual Organisation. Established in 1997, the aim is to spread the message of the Veda and Sri ...

savitri.in/blogs/savitri-cultural/.../12-photos-of-the-mother-playing-tennis
It is interesting that Henri Cartier-Bresson saw Mother playing tennis as a "decisive moment" of the Ashram life. Sri Aurobindo Ashram is unlike any other.

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