GROWTH OF WORLD CULTURE

ALL does not end with what we have said. Where is the - pen with vision, power and devotion enough to give even a faint idea of the whole significance of Sri Aurobindo's life, to portray the various aspects of the Mother's work that cover so many inner and higher planes ?

For instance, we have not said anything at length about the place of women in the life of the Ashram, the freedom they enjoy under the Mother's care.

In the Ashram a woman is looked upon not as wife, daughter or sister or any other relation of a sadhak but as a soul with an independent status and a direct approach to the Mother.

Asked what role man and woman will play in the new life, what will be the relation between them, the Mother said, "Why make at all a distinction between them ? They are all equally human beings, trying to become fit instruments for the Divine Work; above any question of sex, caste, creed and nationality, they are all children of the same Infinite Mother and aspirants to the one Eternal Godhead."¹

The Ashram women are seen engaged in various departments: in electricity, library, typewriting, monotyping, proof-reading, book-binding, draughtsmanship and so on. Some are conducting departments as responsible heads. Most of the Ashram Residential Homes are under their care. And a sadhika is also one of the chief organisers of studies at the highest level of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education.

Not is it only Indian sadhikas who play a responsible part in the Ashram life. As we talk of the Growth of World Culture in connection with the Ashram we may note here a few instances of

1. Bulletin, August 1962, p. 29.

Page-350

non-Indian sadhikas : some more we shall give in a later section. Almost from the very beginning, "Golconde" has been in the charge of an English lady from London. An Ashram Nursing Home was under the supervision of a Polish lady.² An American lady is in charge of the Ashram Book Stock. On the teaching staff of the School there have been sadhikas from England, France, Switzerland and U.S.A.

In the artistic sphere too of the Ashram life, sadhikas, foreign no less than Indian, have distinguished themselves. Thus the play, Périple d'Or, which was staged in 1960 and had a very high appreciation from the Mother, was written and directed by a French sadhika who designed also the decor and the costumes. Some other dramatic performances have had the benefit of direction in acting from a Russian-born lady from France, with experience of the modern theatre of the West. And, of course, in the realm of art as elsewhere in the Ashram life, service by both sadhikas and sadhaks of all nationalities becomes the most useful by being guided inwardly and outwardly by the Mother's ever-present Light.

But the value of the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother has to be assessed not only by the immediate profit we make out of it but also by what they have sown far and wide in the earth's soul and soil, by the universal possibilities they have quickened, the beginnings they have made of a new evolution on a world scale.

II

Sri Aurobindo's sphere of work was never confined to India nor even to Asia. His help came also to many persons, known or unknown, in distant countries of the West. Here is an example of a very striking order.

A Roumanian anti-communist leader, Doctor Silviu

2. She (Janina) came to stay in the Ashram in 1957 and passed away on 17-7-1964.

Page-351

Craciunas, was unable to bear any more the excruciating tortures in a communist prison in Budapest; when he was on the point of making an end of his life he had a vision of which he says :

"...the wall in front of me rolled back and a chain of snowy mountains gleamed in the rising sun. In the foreground was a little Indian temple dedicated to the goddess Kali. A tall tree shaded it. At its foot an old man sat with his legs tucked under him and his hands resting on his knees in Brahmin fashion. He had a long and very thin white beard. His ascetic face had the same serenity as the blue sky stretching over the dazzling peaks. As I gazed at him he bowed his head slightly, smiled and said: 'I can see you have forgotten me. Don't you remember Aurobin Dogos, the Brahmin ?"

It should be noted that in his political days Sri Aurobindo was known by the name Aurobindo Ghose.³

What we have quoted is an extract from the book The Lost Footsteps published by Collins and Harvill Press, London, in

3. It will not be out of place to mention here the changes that occurred in Sri Aurobindo's name from his childhood onward.

His father used to spell it "Ara". When he died, this name was on his lips. Sri Aurobindo's niece and others addressed him as "Arada" out of love.

While in England, his name at the school and university was Arvinda Acroyd Ghose. According to Dinendranath Roy, his letters were

addressed by the State "A. A. Ghose" ("Acroyd" was in deference to an English God-father). ______

By the members of Subodh Mullick's Family he was called, when he stayed at Calcutta, "Ghose Saheb" or "Mr. Ghose".

To his political fellow workers he was "Babu". C. C. Dutt's group addressed him as "Chief.

His revolutionary letters used to bear the name "Kali".

His first book from Pondicherry (Yogic Sadhari) bore the name "Uttara Yogi". "The Yogi from the North (Uttara Yogi) was my own name given to me because of a prediction made long ago by a famous Tamil Yogi."—Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on the Mother, p. 338.

Before Siddhhe was known to those around him by the name of "A. G." The earlier articles he wrote in his monthly magazine Arya used to be signed "A. G."

By the local people of Pondicherry he was addressed as "Babu". (While giving a message to Rassendren in 1920 Nolini said, "Babu has said he will do the needful".) In some of his earlier publications (before Siddhhe) the spelling of his name was given : "Arvind Ghose", "Arabindo Ghose".

After Siddhi "Ghose" was dropped, the spelling was fixed and he came to be known to the world as "Sri Aurobindo".

Page-352

1961.The Author and the publishers have been kind enough to permit us to quote not only this extract but the whole account of the "transformation" that came to the author, with the ideas inspired by "Aurobind Dogos."

Let us now cite, with grateful acknowledgements, all the passages relevant to our theme after the strange "hermit's" appearance : "I heard myself replying : 'You have no idea how long I have been looking for you and calling you...'

"I had to make a long journey to get here," he said.

"For months after this I lived in the company of the 'Brahmin' whom I believed at the time to be a real person other than myself. But these visions were different in character from the nightmare hallucinations I had before. It seemed that, somehow, I had reached a deeper level of my being and these new experiences, instead of helping my enemies, marked the beginning of a period of spiritual integration.

"I held long conversations with the 'hermit' and it was 'he' who argued me out of committing suicide, persuading me that life was sacred and must be lived to the last breath.

"I complained to him that, locked inside these walls and thinking ceaselessly night and day without a moment's respite, I had reached the limits of my endurance.

" 'Tell me,' I begged him, 'am I the victim of these men who hold me captive, or at the mercy of some harsh, blind laws of nature ?'

Page-353

"He explained to me his view of suffering. 'Some people it destroys.' He said, 'others are challenged by it to resist some evil or to undertake some positive, creative act; some are corrupted, lose control over themselves and become cruel and vengeful, others grow in strength and grace.'

" 'But what can a man do alone, armed with nothing but his free will, against an overwhelming evil ?' I asked him.

" 'In answer, he told me a story :

" 'Two swallows nested under the eaves of a fisherman's hut near the sea-shore, teaching their young to fly. They took them out over the sea, gradually training them to cross long distances and to face the hardships they would have to undergo during their migration. The fledgelings shot into the air, exulting in the joy of flight and freedom, but a gust of wind caught one of them and flung it down upon the surface of the waves. The small bird kept its wings outstretched so that it did not sink, but neither could it rise; floating like a leaf, it called piteously to its parents as they circled over it. The parent swallows did their best to calm and encourage it, then they flew back to the shore and made innumerable journeys to the water's edge, each time carrying a drop of water in their beaks and pouring it into the sand. Thus they hoped to empty the ocean and to save their young.

" 'Their heroic effort is a lesson to us,' the 'Brahmin' went on. ' The human will and spirit must also not be resigned at moments of crisis; it must go on looking for a solution, however overwhelming the odds. You must not accept defeat, you must not believe your efforts to be in vain. If you have the blind courage to continue to endure and to struggle, you will find a new beginning in your life.'

"My conversation with the hermit living in solitude near the temple of the goddess Kali had lasted several months. Outside spring was appearing; the strength of the light and a suspicion of

Page-354

warmth in the air were the first signs. Who was this 'Brahmin' ? Why was he trying to give me precious support ? Understanding my perplexity, he gently held out a pale, skeleton like hand and stroked my forehead with his cold fingers. Somehow transfigured, he said to me with emotion :

" 'You want to know who I am ? I am your spirit; your reason ! You appealed to me in a moment of abject despair. In your isolation and helplessness, only I am capable of encouraging you to bolster your morale and strengthen your will; apart from me, there is no one who is able to come to your aid. Put your trust in my strength and you will never regret it.'

"This encounter was indeed a turning-point in my existence. Gradually my nightmares left me and I discovered an inner calm and balance and achieved control over my mind and body.

"After days and weeks of practice I found that I could sit motionless on my chair for hours, my head leaning gently against the wall and my eyes open. I breathed deeply and quietly, my will controlling my heart-beats and keeping them steady. Hunger and fatigue took less toll of my strength than when I had dissipated it in pacing up and down my cell, fighting against drowsiness. My small ration of food and the two or three hours' sleep I was allowed out of the twenty-four were now sufficient for my bodily needs.

'To detach my mind totally from my surroundings took more time and effort. At first I told myself that I was a spectator in a darkened room : my prison life was nothing but a film projected on a screen, which I trained myself to interrupt at will. At a later stage I succeeded in looking upon my body, sitting motionless in the chair, as though it were a photograph. Still later I felt my spirit able to escape the prison walls and undertake long journeys.

"The warders were puzzled by the transformation which had taken place before their eyes: a man who had been frantic, driven to the verge of madness by lack of sleep now sat calm and as still

Page-355

as a statue. From time to time they knocked on the door and ordered me to move my head or blink my eyes, to make sure that I was still alive and lucid. Inwardly I had reached a peace and a serenity which I had never known before.

"Time no longer dragged; solitude was not a hardship, it was the opportunity for ceaseless contemplation. Freed from its anxieties, my mind devoted itself passionately to pure thought. I now longed to survive—even, if need be, in prison—for I was enchanted by the happiness of my new spiritual freedom. I longed to encompass the universe, to search its mysteries, as inexhaustible as infinity. At the same time this transformation made available to me a source of energy which enormously increased my power of resistance to my adversaries. This triumph of reason over madness radically changed my whole life. I believe now that, through the discipline of contemplation, I did in fact arrive at a new philosophy based on the values of humanism and the laws of concord. Freeing myself from theories and beliefs, I became conversant with the laws of the universe and developed a new understanding of suffering, freedom, discord and harmony, revolution and evolution.

"In this book of actual events there is no place for a philosophical treatise. I mention it only because it was the development of these ideas which gave me the will to stay alive in order to pass them on to the West."

III

To-day Sri Aurobindo is not only India's own but the entire world's.⁴ His dream, his voice, his sadhana, his experiences and his achievements are one of the richest treasures of man to-day. His Ashram is itself the meeting-place of East and West.

4. In a casual reference to the power of prediction Sri Aurobindo once said in his evening talks: "When I was arrested, my maternal grand-aunt asked Vishuddhananda, 'what will happen to our Aurobindo ?'

Page-356

"From the East must come the Dawn and this time from India who will take her rightful place of leadership in the new age, the age of mankind's spiritual civilisation," wrote W. W. Pearson, a co-worker of poet Tagore, in his book The Dawn of a New Age after his return from Pondicherry.⁵

In the world of to-day we find no trace of the 19th century bigotry. To anything good all are ready to extend their recognition. Any book of new facts or new discoveries or new truths at once reaches every corner of the world. A piece of scientific research, successful anywhere, commands immediate acceptance everywhere ! Major Yuri Gagarin, the first Space-man, has been greeted as a "World-hero",⁶ With or without our co-operation, we are being led to the growth of one world, one culture, one race.

M. Hafiz Syed, Ph. D., D. Litt., after his visit to the Ashram, remarks : "I have never been a disciple of Sri Aurobindo. My visit was meant to see how far this unique Ashram has been carrying on its activities after the passing away of its author and founder. Nowhere in India where I have travelled considerably have I seen such a well-knit, perfectly harmonious and completely integrated organisation like the one that has been in existence for more than forty years in this capital of French India.

"As I have a great faith in evolution and development of human social organisation I have been drawn to this place to study and observe the working of the inmates of the Ashram.

"I claim no competence to say anything about the inner life of the inmates. But as a tree is judged by its fruits, this Ashram may rightly be judged by the results it has produced during these

He replied,'The Divine Mother has taken him in Her arms. Nothing will happen to him. But he is not your Aurobindo. He is world's Aurobindo, and the world will be filled with his perfume." Bulletin, November 1966, p. 96.

5.Adapted from The Liberator by Sisir Kumar Mitra.

6.The Hindu, July 16, 1961.

Page-357

twenty-six years. It is not quite accurate to call it a mere Ashram. It is truer to say that it is more like a colony of culture than an Ashram."

It is worth noting that the Ashram is not based exclusively on Indian culture nor does it strictly follow India's traditional ways of Ashram life. The atmosphere is such that the moment one takes up the life here one forgets whether one was a Brahmin or a non-Brahmin, a Jew or a Christian, a Frenchman or a German.

All have access to all its festivals and functions. The Dining Room is open to all. Each can sit by the side of anyone he likes and have his meal. No one ever objects to whoever may be the person next to him. In the beginning a separate hall was reserved for the opposite sex. For a pretty long time this distinction has been done away with.

Sri Aurobindo says in one of his letters :

".. .we are not working for a race or a people or a continent or for a realisation of which only Indians or only Orientals are capable. Our aim is not, either, to found a religion or a school of philosophy or a school of Yoga, but to create a ground and a way of spiritual growth and experience and a way which will bring down a greater Truth beyond the mind but not inaccessible to the human soul and consciousness. All can pass who are drawn to that Truth, whether they are from India or elsewhere from the East or from the West."⁷

Dorothy M. Richardson, the writer, once wrote to Dr. K. R. Srinivas Iyengar : "Has there ever existed a more synthetic Consciousness than that of Sri Aurobindo ?"

In this respect the Mother too is a living synthesis. Even the most analytical mind cannot say with certainty whether she is more of the East than of the West or vice versa. In her message to America on August 4,1949 she said: "Stop thinking that you are of the West and others of the East!" The mingling of the two is

7. Letters of Sri Aurobindo, Fourth Series, p. 55.

Page-358

what we see in practice in the Ashram. For instance, it is difficult to say about P whether he is of the Occident or of the Orient. His nature is so loving that none of us even for a minute can think that he is foreign to us. I do not mean that he has gone back upon everything Western and assimilated everything Eastern. Neither does Sri Aurobindo's Yoga demand it.

When none of us knew who the Mother was, there was one who gave her whole life to her even from when she was very young. She had met the Mother in France, travelled with her to Japan, and then on to Pondicherry in 1920. She was Miss Dorothy Hodgson, an Englishwoman.

Her spirit of dedication was above all bargaining, truly matchless. It is said of her that she was prepared even for sweeping work if that was assigned to her.

She was so simple, so free from taint of racial ego that during the pre-Ashram days she used to wear pieces of old clothes (dhoties) of sadhaks at night, herself darning the torn pieces.

With the birth of the Ashram she used the ochre garb and adhered to it till the last. Sri Aurobindo had given her the name "Vasavadatta", shortened in use to "Datta", "one who has given herself", and her whole life was a living illustration of her self-giving. So fresh is she even to-day in the memory of a sadhak that he folded his hands again and again in reverence to her as he narrated the story.

IV

The international character of the Ashram, with its doors open to all, is attracting from different parts of the world more and more responsive elements as visitors and residents.

Dr. Jay H. Smith, the right-hand man of Stanley Jones, the famous missionary, was forced back to America by the British Government for his open and active sympathy for Indian freedom; he returned with his wife only to take up Ashram life

Page-359

for good. What led him to Sri Aurobindo's path were some of the Master's evocative words in Among the Great and The Synthesis of Yoga that he had read in the New York Public Library.

It was The Life Divine that gave Dr. Frederic Spiegelberg of Stanford University, California, the rare luck to have the Darshan of Sri Aurobindo in 1949. He stayed in "Golconde" designed by a renowned architect of America, and built under his supervision.

It is due to the efforts of Dr. Spiegelberg that Sri Aurobindo has been introduced into the department of Asian studies in Stanford University. In a letter to Dr. Haridas Chaudhury, dated November 22, 1950, Dr. Spiegelberg has remarked : "Sri Aurobindo is the guiding spirit of our earth and the prophet of our age."

"I am very grateful that I came into touch with Sri Aurobindo so late in life... In 1947 I read his The Life Divine and was completely knocked over...We have Plato, Spinoza, Kant and Hegel but they do not have the same all-embracing metaphysical structure, they do not have the same vision."⁸

It should be noted that Dr. Chaudhury was among the earliest to receive a doctorate on Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy from Calcutta University. Later, when the American Academy of Asian Studies, San Francisco, wished to have a disciple of Sri Aurobindo for its Chair of Indian Philosophy and Dr. Spiegelberg invited K. D. Sethna, the latter suggested to Sri Aurobindo the name of Dr. Chaudhury as the one he would like to offer to Dr. Spiegelberg. Sri Aurobindo at once gave full approval. This approval was communicated to Dr. Spiegelberg who wrote back that his Guru's word was law to him and that he would at once invite Dr. Chaudhury. Now the latter is Founder-President of the Cultural Integration Fellowship in San Francisco.

In 1962, Sammie Spanier, an American youth, had an interview with the Mother for about forty minutes. He went to

8. Reproduced from Asia, Quarterly, Saigon.

Page-360

the Mother with a number of questions. But in her presence he forgot all about them.

The Mother asked him if, like other people, he would meditate with her. At this he set about sitting in a traditional posture of meditation. But the Mother said that the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo requires no rigid pose and asked him to sit relaxed and comfortable.

After the meditation was over, the Mother asked him if he had any liking for painting. The young man replied: "Certainly I have. But why ?" The Mother gave him a smile and said: "I saw during our meditation a number of heads around your face." He wondered how the Mother could come to know the fact of his being an artist. He could not immediately believe his eyes and ears.

On his expressing a wish to work for the Mother in America she said that she would like him to be a link between East and West. The Mother's words went home to his soul. Now he is working in New York with kindred spirits.

Spanier revisited the Ashram in connection with the second celebration of the Golden Day in 1964.

Among other American visitors were Lois Duncan and Mrs. Duncan, a close friend of the Late Miss Wilson. An extract from Mrs. Duncan's impression of the Ashram runs :

"A new light breaks upon the earth, . A new world is born."

"As we travel westward from the Ashram at Pondicherry somehow these words of the Mother keep ringing within as an expression of a keynote of our visit there, and also something she said long ago: '...if I could, I would try to create a small world— oh, quite small—where people could live without having to busy themselves with food and lodging and clothes...so that I might see whether all these energies freed by the certainty of an assured material existence would turn spontaneously towards the divine

Page-361

life and the inner realisation.'

"We have seen with our own eyes that there is such a place on earth where over a thousand souls have gathered—men women and children—to work and to live, not for money but for devotion and dedication to a spiritual ideal...

"One sees devotion shining in the eyes of many sincere devotees at the Ashram, a glow of love and dedication or it might be spiritual experience. Whatever there is, is shining from within, inescapable, indescribable. We noticed many of the young people have this joyous light in their eyes. The Mother has written : 'In this place, children would be able to grow and develop integrally without losing contact with their soul.' Perhaps this is the explanation, or one explanation. Moreover, they have a wonderful physical fitness and wholesomeness—obviously, body, mind and spirit are nurtured here...

"A question comes now to mind—what expression, what way will this message manifest in the western world ? So far, the answer could perhaps be : the way may be different and yet the same, different because of infinite variation inherent in the Divine, the same because of the One that is in all.

"We are indeed thankful to have had the privilege of this experience. What greater reasurance than to have witnessed in the East this glimpse of a 'New Light' (that) breaks upon the earth ?"

Her next visit to the Ashram was in 1966. The same year on April 24, her Crescent Moon Ranch with its spiritual activities received the Mother's Blessings, as Sri Aurobindo Centre in Sedona, Arizona.

This Centre is situated in an amazingly colourful area, with rock formations of fantastic shapes that glow in the setting sun. The spirit of the place is in its ethereal beauty, enhanced by the Oak Creek winding its way murmuring through the Ranch. Thanks to the Creek, the Ranch is an oasis of green pastures, fruit

Page-362

trees and other growing things.

The founders' cherished aspiration is that the Centre may also be an oasis of spiritual peace, nourished by a flow of dedicated souls. There is a small dwelling for meditation, named "Purani Nivas". Further, facilities are there for those who want to pass sometime in quiet retreat.

In July 1947 Dr. Judith Tyberg came to India with a J. K. Birla Scholarship for research at Varanasi Hindu University of which Dr. Radhakrishnan was then Vice-Chancellor.

When she was asked by the Head of the Department of Philosophy on what subject she would like to do her research, she said she wanted to find out the inner spiritual meaning of the Vedas which were supposed to be the basis of India's wisdom. Dr. Atreya told her that it had been lost and that she had better seek another topic. Her heart sank to think she had come all the way to India in vain. At that time by her side sat Aravind Basu, a young Instructor. He quietly asked Miss Tyberg if she had heard or read of Sri Aurobindo; she said that she had not.

Next day Mr. Basu placed in her hands a typed copy of Hymns to the Mystic Fire. This opened a new chapter in her life. She sat up all night pouring over it and was overjoyed to have found what she had longed for. The meetings and talks with Mr. Basu roused in her the aspiration to seek permission to come to the Ashram. Before she received an answer she was surprised to find herself breathing an atmosphere redolent of jasmin scent wherever she went. Puzzled, she asked Mr. Basu where it was coming from.

He answered with a smile, "Did you not write to Sri Aurobindo ?"

Soon a letter arrived welcoming her to the Ashram.

The day she arrived the Mother was giving special blessings on account of Laksmi puja. And so Miss Tyberg had her first spiritual blessings when the Mother put her hands on her head. She felt a strange electric current passing through her being and

Page-363

wondered what was happening. The interview she had with the Mother opened many soul-doors for her; she felt she was meeting a goddess-friend of old.

On her asking for a Sanskrit name the Mother said, she thought of 'Light' and that she would consult Sri Aurobindo. The next morning the Mother gave her a slip of paper at the Pranams in which the name "Jyotipriya—Lover of Light" was written.

She saw Sri Aurobindo in November 1947 and for the last time in February 1950. In describing her first experience before Sri Aurobindo, she says she felt as though she was in the presence of a vast infinite Consciousness of great wonder and depth. For days she felt an electrifying prickly current along her upper spine. On asking the Mother about what it was, She said that a new power had been poured into her. During her last six months' stay in the Ashram she came in contact with Prithwisingh and worked with him in the Publication Department. All this helped to ground her in the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo.

On her return to America she started lecturing on Sri Aurobindo in educational and religious Centres. In 1953 she founded "The East-West Cultural Centre" in a small room.

Later she received the following charge from the Mother in her own hand, dated December 1955, which is kept there well framed : "For you who have realised your soul and seek the integral yoga to help the others is the best way of helping yourself. Indeed, if you are sincere you will soon discover that each of their difficulties, each of their failures is a sure sign of a corresponding deficiency in yourself, the proof that something in you is not perfect enough to be all powerful."

'The East West Cultural Centre" gradually grew; in 1963 it moved to its present headquarters at 2865 West 9th Street, Los Angeles, California. It has now become "a general Information Centre on India and a magnet for seekers of the Divine Life", to use her own words.

Page-364

Though her next visit to the Ashram was in 1967 as a delegate to the Second World Conference of the World Union, after a lapse of 17 years, yet she was never away from the Ashram in spirit, and is in close touch with the Mother, who she feels is always the power behind all her successes.

It was in her Centre that on many occasions she staged various scenes from Savitri with her students.

A group of ten American University students visited the Ashram for a period of eleven days. The visit was arranged through the World Union under the scheme of Experiments in International Living.

Towards the end of 1965 a newly-constructed house was rented by the Ashram and was named "America House". It serves as a channel of cultural contact between the Ashram and America.

It was in America that five major works⁹ of Sri Aurobindo were published in 1950. Next to follow were: The Mind of Light and the Foundations of Indian Culture (1953). In 1965 came out Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, an English version of the French original by Satprem, a French resident of the Ashram. It was hailed by the Press as "..a boon to suffering humanity. It holds out the high hope of the early dawn of the better day."

A scientifically-minded distinguished American's suggestions regarding the Ashram called forth a response from the Mother, part of which runs: "I know that from the external point of view, we are below many of the present achievements in this world, but our aim is not a perfection in accordance with the human standard. We are endeavouring for something else which belongs to the future.

'The Ashram has been founded and is meant to be the cradle of the new world.

9. The Life Divine; The Synthesis of Yoga; Essays on the Gita; The Human Cycle; The Ideal of Human Unity.

Page-365

"The inspiration is from above, the guiding force is from above, the creative power is from above, at work for the descent of the new realisation...

'The task, no doubt, is a formidable one, but we received the command to accomplish it and we are upon earth for that purpose alone..."¹⁰

V

Apart from the personalities already referred to in the body of the book, the number of visitors to the Ashram, steadily on the increase, is a sign of world culture silently developing.

A young man from Zurich in the course of his Indian tour paid a flying visit to the Ashram in 1952. Nothing impressed him then. When he was taken round the various departments, he wondered what there was specially to see. Was the Ashram a museum? And why was everything referred to the Mother ? It appeared to him very disturbing. Still he bought a set of Sri Aurobindo's major works.

Another surprise waited for him at the Balcony. He could not understand why grown-up people were standing with folded hands before the Mother, behaving like children. It looked to him very strange.

Of the books bought by him the first one that impressed him was The Synthesis of Yoga, Part One — "The Yoga of Divine Works". This led him to read The Life Divine and other books.

It took him four years to feel that the writer could not be a mere philosopher; he almost felt that no human being could write such things. It is said that one must read and read spiritual things, then only can the realities enshrined therein reveal themselves by degrees.

Such was the case with our young visitor. The more he read,

10. Bulletin, August 1964. p. 98.

Page-366

the more did he have glimpses of the truth, the more the light radiated from Sri Aurobindo's writings. Then something dawned on him. He realised that Sri Aurobindo's books carry a Divine Message.

Hence he ordered some more books. One among them was Sri Aurobindo on the Mother. Here Sri Aurobindo had said that the Mother's consciousness and his are one. It went home to the young Swiss. Thus it took him quite a number of years to recognise the Mother.

Now he felt that as the books had done so much to bring about a change in his outlook he must do something for the Ashram.

But how could he help ? In order to spread the thought of Sri Aurobindo he has opened a Book Distribution Service in Zurich and also arranges meetings and talks at various places. Moreover, he has opened the first European branch of Sri Aurobindo Society at his place. His one aim is to serve the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

Asked about his impression of the Ashram now, he said: "So far as organisation is concerned, it is nothing unique in comparison to the West but as a spiritual endeavour, there is nothing in the world like it. I feel altogether at home here."

Alberto Grassi, an amiable Italian and a noted engineer, joined the Ashram on May 27,1963 and is on the teaching staff of the Centre of Education and also on the Engineering staff of Auroville. Besides, he is translating Sri Aurobindo's works into Italian. He has already translated two books. Of these The Synthesis of Yoga (Part One)¹¹ has been published in Italy by Astrolabio, Roma and the other Sri Aurobindo or The Adventure of Consciousness is going to be published by Paolo Galeati. On expressing my appreciation of his labours, Grassi observed : "More and more people are getting interested in Sri Aurobindo in Italy."

11 He is now working on Part Two.

Page-367

To a question how he has been passing his time here, his buoyant reply was, "I am full of energy, full of health, full of love for India, full of Mother and Sri Aurobindo, full of happiness" and repeated, "I am very happy here."

Dr. George Lozanov of the Scientific Centre of Suggestology, Bulgaria, came on a visit, arranged by the University Grants Commission of India for a first hand study of Sri Aurobindo as in Bulgaria there is an increasing interest in his teachings.

R, a Hungarian by birth, on reading a book on an Indian saint felt he had a call and he took a decision to come to India. When he set out for India, he knew nothing of the country nor where to go.

At Colombo someone told him of Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Since then he felt a guiding hand helping him to his destiny. On coming here he offered his services to the Mother.

To have the first interview with the Mother he had to wait full one year but he didn't lose patience. He has been here since January 21, 1964 and is now in charge of the Society's Good Guest House.

Asked what attracted him most here, his one-word answer was : 'The Mother."

To another question on how he was faring here, he answered, "It is the only life worth living. Thirteen years I spent in Australia, I had a house, a car and all that could be had from the world but I was not happy. All those material things did not make me happy. "I love this place"—he repeated these words several times in a spirit of reverence.

'The Mother has said somewhere" he went on, "that we have met before and belong to one family. I feel like that and strongly believe in it. Looking at the people here, I felt I knew them."

Her Royal Highness, Princess Irene of Greece visited the Ashram on December 2, 1966.

Mr. Raymond Becker of the French Cultural journal, Planète came to collect materials for a special number on India. Planète

Page-368

has published articles on Sri Aürobindo several times.

Among foreign students admitted to the Centre of Education in 1967 are a Dutch girl in the Higher Course and three French girls in the Junior Courses. The father of the French girls has accepted teaching in our school.

Josef Szarka left Austria in quest of Yoga in 1949 when he was 20. From his school life he had a leaning towards philosophy and Yoga. He wanted to come to India but failed to secure a visa. He had to struggle eight long years before he could find his feet set on the Path.

In the course of his search, circumstances took him to Viet-Nam. He had to stay there for four years. There he utilised his time in learning Judo and Jiu-Jitsu. From Viet-Nam he wrote to the Ashram in 1951 but had no reply. From there he moved to Africa and wrote to the Ashram again. At length he found himself in the Ashram.

Since February 1958 he has been here as a member of our Physical Education Department conducting training in Judo.

By request to the Federal German Republic at Bonn, Herr W. Haubrich was sent here to coach our boys and girls in athletics and swimming. He was a highly trained coach of a Sporthochechule, Koln, West Germany. He gave to a select group of our gymnasts a most useful and effective course in the three months that he was with us. The Mother named him Saumitra because of his very friendly and cordial relations with our boys. He has left us but we have not forgotten him nor has he forgotten us. Ever since he left us he has been in communication with our Physical Education Department, and often speaks on the Ashram wherever he goes.

The same institution sent in 1964 another expert coach. This time it was a lady gymnast Miss liona Eckgold.

The Cabinet Dentaire, opened on April 29, 1965 is run by Richard Rigos (Greek) and Thérése his wife (French), both quali-

Page-369

fied Dental Surgeons, who have come from France with all the necessary modern equipment for a dental clinic and a laboratory. There is a provision also for training in this science.

These are but a few typical instances of the Ashram helping the growth of international cultural relations.

Another aspect of world culture is now taking shape in the World Union movement, conducted by A. B. Patel, ex-Minister of Kenya, East Africa, with its World Council consisting of members from 27 countries and its quarterly World Union which goes to 38 countries.

The international character of the Ashram is exemplified in the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, the Sri Aurobindo Library, the International Salon of Photography, the International Education Theatre, international games and sports, the regular receipt of 300 periodicals from different countries, various cultural exhibitions, extension lectures and so on.

About the Library, Sanjiva Rao, the noted educationist, already referred to, observes : "The Library is a students' paradise—I spent every morning in the library—I wish we could have had a place like that in our institution in Benares. We have built a wonderful place there—a two-mile river-front of the Ganga and a mile and a half of the riverVaruna. But we can never dream of building up a study centre like that in the Ashram: books in every language chosen with consummate care, books for young and old from every country on Religion, Philosophy, Social Sciences, Literature, books on travel, beautifully illustrated series of books for children, pictures records of the music of East and West, all these testify to the atmosphere of a world culture that seems to be slowly emerging out of the meeting of East and West in this Ashram. It is a true monument to the genius of Sri Aurobindo in whom ancient and modern thought of both East and West found a perfect unity."

Page-370

This is by no means a comprehensive list of all that has to be said. The Ashram's connections with the outside world are also through correspondence and other means. The subject is too big to be compressed into a few pages.

Once we were entertained with a colourful Japanese exhibition in "Golconde, the first of its kind in the Ashram." The two Japanese agricultural experts who introduced into the Ashram the Japanese method of growing paddy welcomed us, in their kimonos, to the exhibition.

The first exhibition of Chinese paintings was held in the upper hall of "Aroume" by two noted Chinese artists. Another exhibition of 210 paintings and calligraphies was held on the auspicious day of 4-5-67 by one of them who has settled here. In him one can see a rare combination of a scholar, painter and yogi.

The paintings are a product of his 20 years' labour. He has done a good number of Sri Aurobindo's books into Chinese some of which have been printed in the Ashram Press.

A Cambodian seeker, Bhikshu Dhammadhir, of Prea Suramrita Buddhist University (Cambodia) who was here for about a year from June 1961, thus gave his personal experience about life in the Ashram : "When I first came to Pondicherry I was under the impression that I was the only person coming from the Far East, and that I would be quite lonely here. But I found that I was, in fact, among my brothers and sisters here. You have shown me great affection and love which moves me every moment."

X, a resident of South Africa, had sent his family to the Ashram before joining it himself. Questioned by the reporter of The Mail. his wife said : "I have come from Dar-es-Salaam to India to sojourn at Pondicherry in my quest for inner peace, my husband is an engineer there. We have yearned for long to come to India to stay at the Aurobindo Ashram...I have felt that I and many others have been leading mere worldly lives but without inner peace there can be no real life."

Page-371

Among the 91 foreigners resident in the Ashram in January 1967 were : French 26, American 20, German 13, British 11, Swiss 5, Australian 3, Italian 2, Swedish 1, Greek 1, Dutch 1, Danish 1, Tanganaiyka 2, Chinese 1, Japanese 1, Tibetan 3. But the number of course varies from time to time.

VI

An important fact worth mentioning here is the project to consider the Ashram a Centre for Research in Yoga. Dr. Hingorani, Deputy Educational Adviser, Ministry of Education, Government of India, paid an official visit to the Ashram on June 18,1967 and was here till the 20th to collect data and submit his report to the Government.

How the Ashram differs from others not only in its aim and ideal but in its way to. realise it and why it should be named a centre for Research in Yoga, the nursery of a new race, can be gathered from Madhav Pandit's exposition in Mother India, August 15, 1967.

To study the teachings of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo on the emergence of a New Race, Dr. V. Madhusudan Reddy started an Institute of Human Study in 1964 in Osmania University Campus, Hyderabad, with the MOTHER as the Permanent Honorary President.

On July 1, 1967 under the auspices of this Institute the Sri Aurobindo School was started. In the Department of Philosophy at Osmania University a bold and imaginative step has been taken by introducing all the major works of Sri Aurobindo in the Post-Graduate syllabus.

Of all the States of India, Orissa has, by far, the largest number of Sri Aurobindo Centres, 500 in number up to June 1968. The Mother's and Sri Aurobindo's teachings seem to have entered the very soul and the soil of this small state. The latest

Page-372

addition is the Sri Aurobindo Students' Association. Its aim is "to fight successfully the great battle of the future that is to be born" and be the harbingers of the New Light and Consciousness now pressing upon the earth to manifest.

"Hinduism" has been introduced as an alternative paper in the theology Tripos course at Cambridge University. Essays on the Gita will be studied as the main commentary. A small edition of the Gita compiled from these Essays by Anilbaran has been made the text.

Apart from this, Sri Aurobindo has been introduced into several Indian Universities like Calcutta, Vishwa-Bharati, Osmania, etc.

So far about a dozen persons have obtained doctorate degrees from various universities for different theses on Sri Aurobindo. Dr. V. Madhusudan Reddy of Osmania University received a U.G. C. Grant of Rs 7000/- for publication of his thesis: Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy of Evolution.

Two graduates worked at the university of Durham, England on different aspects of Sri Aurobindo's philosophy. The Rev. H. P. Sullivan, who is now teaching History and Philosophy of Religion at Duke University, U. S. A., obtained a Ph. D. for his thesis : The Concept of Man in Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy. Dr. P. M. Krishna got M. Litt. for his dissertation : The Social Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo.

A Sri Aurobindo study centre was founded in London in the early fifties. Though it was fairly active it was not expanding. When a visitor from England brought this to the notice of the Mother and said that some members of the centre wondered whether they should keep it going, the Mother gave a firm reply: 'Tell Miss Tomlinson¹² and others that even if the members there have not got the Light, they may yet become the source of Light for others."

12. One of the founding members of the Centre.

Page-373

1960 saw the birth of the Sri Aurobindo Society which has now 90 branches in India and membership in 25 countries. When a branch of the Society was opened in Japan E. Kobayashi, Lecturer in Buddhism, Harazono University, Kyoto came to the Ashram in September 1963 for two years' stay for study of Sri Aurobindo and for translation of his works into Japanese. He was named Omkardas in 1964 and decided to take up the Ashram life in 1965.

Mr. Kannaya, a member of the Society (Japan) who visited the Ashram in 1963 has done into Japanese The Synthesis Yoga, Part One, already published.

It seems the Society will reach the acme of its activities when it realises the Mother's "Dream" in Auroville.

Page-374