Living India comes from a 24/7 experience of being pickled in the Indian culture, in the context of Auroville – the City of Dawn aspiring to live an actual human unity in diversity.
Living India, loving India – the essence of it and its countless eyes, names, faces, facets and flavours. Living it. Carrying it. Always.
Author: Anandi Zhang
Print Length: 117
Publisher: Our Home (OH), under Auroville Art Service
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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Poems and writings by Vikas Vickers
This Collection of poems and writings was started in the 1970’s when Alan was given his name ‘Vikas’ (meaning Progress) by Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual collaborator, The Mother. He was born on 20th. November 1944, in York, England. In Auroville and amongst Aurovilians, he also differentiated himself as Vikas Vickers.
Having completed his education and practical training as an architect, Vikas went travelling in 1971, leaving the West feeling the need to seek something to give more meaning and purpose to his life. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but he did know that where and what he was, at that time, could not satisfy the deeper part of himself that wanted something more relevant to the world than an ordinary, little life. When he was on top of a truck en-route to Kathmandu, he met a 17 year-old Swedish man who embodied the maturity, calm and wisdom that made Vikas feel “I want some of that.” The young man had just come up from the former French territory of Pondicherry in the south of India. He started telling Vikas about Sri Aurobindo, about meeting The Mother and about the beginnings of Auroville. Vikas was fascinated. He immediately went there and this is where he started these writings. He also worked in the construction of The Matrimandir, the design and construction of the Amphitheatre and the design of the first EcoHouse in India.
His search has been for a vision and understanding, to use de Chardin’s phrase, of “the within of things”. To change one’s way of seeing the world it is necessary to change one’s consciousness out of ‘this earth-bound littleness’. In his case, he admits, a work still very much in progress after more than 50 years, but by following Sri Aurobindo’s ‘Integral Yoga’ he definitely feels that he is somewhere in the foothills. And he says that, rather than make a wretched battle out of the process, he has aspired to walk what The Mother called ‘the sunlit path’, which requires a surrender to the inner guide, who, one anyway discovers, has been leading us even when we thought we were doing the yoga of life.
Vikas laments the fact that England is currently somewhat Godless, although there is still a deep appreciation for philosophical poets like TS Eliot. In England there is a limited audience for the sort of spiritual seeking and vision which forms the inspiration for the kind of poetry Vikas writes. India, with its treasury of ancient spirituality and with the influence of Sri Aurobindo still recognises the value of poems about spiritual journeys. Vikas has also compiled two books of Auroville poems published by Prisma:
50 Poems from Auroville and 50 More Poems from Auroville
The writings included are thought-pieces exploring themes related to Auroville and a spirituality rooted in the aspiration for a better, truer, more beautiful life on earth.
Author: Vikas
Print Length: 53
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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It “dawns” on me that it is our duty to make life so interesting that all the gods and goddesses want to come and join in the play——a Life Divine, isn’t it? Otherwise, we will be taxed by the inner, eternal law.
The poems in this collection each came in their own time, and flow in the sequence of Nature, Man and God.
May we enjoy the banquet of life in all its flavours, including the hearty laughter.
Author: Anandi Zhang
Print Length: 109
Publisher: Our Home, under Auroville Art Service
Original source:
Submitted by:
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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The poems in this collection are inspired by interactions and connections with fellow human beings in our interwoven tapestry of life. Each describes a specific person or a life situation and reflection; and yet each seems to carry something universal as well.
It is a starter of a lifelong, longer than life endeavour – to write a poem for each and every being that I encounter and embrace.
Then hopefully life will grow like a Poetree and we can savour the Poetea:-)
Author: Anandi Zhang
Print Length: 130
Publisher: Our Home (OH), under Auroville Art Service
Book format: Pdf, ePub
Language: English
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This is a collection of poems that have been coming to be written down and shared in the years that I have been living in Auroville – the experimental ground for “human unity in diversity” which The Mother (Mirra Alfassa) created to welcome home Her children from India and across the world.
Author: Anandi Zhang
Print Length: 142
Publisher: Our Home (OH), under Auroville Art Service
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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This is the Ninth Volume of the English of Savitri series. Like the previous books in this series, this one too is based on transcripts of classes held by the author at Savitri Bhavan, in this case from March to September 2020. The transcripts have been carefully revised and edited for conciseness and clarity, while aiming to preserve the informal atmosphere of the course. This Ninth Volume covers Cantos Ten and Eleven of Book Two of Sri Aurobindo’s epic, Savitri – A Legend and a Symbol. Each sentence of these cantos is examined closely and explanations are given about vocabulary, sentence-structure and imagery. The aim is to assist understanding of the poem which the Mother has characterised as ‘the supreme revelation of Sri Aurobindo’s vision.’
The book “Poetic and…” is a collection of short poems that come from inspirations in daily life in and around Auroville. Readers in Auroville and beyond resonate with poems in the book, feeling that they describe their life experiences, inner journeys, and insights.
There are three sections in the book:
– Poetic and Playful
– Poetic and Pensive
– Poetic and Precious
A reader’s feedback:
I loved reading your book Poetic and… Each one of the thoughts resonates with me. Thank you for penning what I feel so frequently about such things.
Author: Anandi Zhang
Print Length: 152
Publisher: Our Home (OH), under Auroville Art Service
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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