Prayers by T. V. Kapali Sastry

Prayers by T. V. Kapali Sastry

These seventeen prayers from the pen of Sri Kapali Sastrier were compiled by his famous student and disciple, Sri Madhav Pandit and published as a book in 1956. It has been reprinted several times. In this edition, the Roman transliterations of the verses are given and the translation of each line of each verse is given separately.

These prayers are meant for those who are interested in cultivating a direct relationship with the Divine. They are all dedicated to the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. These prayers make us become aware of the Masters, make our spirit of surrender deeper and increase our aspiration to attain all round perfection.

All the prayers except 4, 16 and 17 were originally in Samskrt, The prayers 16 and 17 are from The Mother’s book, “Prayers and Meditations”, originally in French; they were translated into English by Sri Aurobindo. Sri Kapali Sastry rendered them into rhythmic Samskrt verses bringing out their deeper meaning. TVK highly recommended these two prayers for his students. The prayer 4 is a popular saying of The Mother rendered into Samskrt.

Only scanty information regarding the dates of the composition of these prayers is available. There is a note at the end of Volume 2 of the Collected Works of TVK stating the prayer 7 was composed for a function in the Ashram School [now named as Sri Aurobindo International Centre for Education (SAlCE)) just before the Darshan day, November 24, 1950, a few days before the Master’s Mahasamadhi. TVK relates that among all the prayers for the Masters he has authored, it is the only one in which Sri Aurobindo is not explicitly mentioned by name. The prayer 13, Fulfilment (sampatti shatakam), was written on the 7th day after the Master’s Mahasamadhi. Prayer 14 was offered to The Mother and Sri Aurobindo on the author’s 55th birthday (Sept, 3, 1941).

There is repeated reference to the Light, highlighted in several Prayers. In the diary note of 2l.3.1936, he relates the words of The Mother spoken on that day regarding the Light of The Mother. “It is not all that see it. Those in whom the inner sense is developed see it; of course, many here (Ashram) see it, not all. When one is physically near, the physical sense is very active, the inner sense does not perceive the Light. But some, when close, even here, see only the Light, not the physical form at all.”

The prayers 5-7, 11-13 were translated into English by TVK. The rest were translated by Sri Madhav Pandit (MPP). The number 1 in the superscript of the translation indicates that the translation is due to TVK.

An audio tape and CD of all these prayers with an introduction is available from Auro Nada. Two audio tapes of some of these prayers, one done by MPP and the other by Vasanti are available from Dipti Trust.

Book Details

Author: T. V. Kapali Sastry
Compiler: M.P. Pandit
Print Length: 42
Publisher: Dipti Publishing
Submitted by: Sergei
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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In Mother’s Land

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.

Book Details

Author: Anandi Zhang
Print Length: 142
Publisher: Our Home (OH), under Auroville Art Service
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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The English of Savitri Volume 9

The English of Savitri
volume 9

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.’

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Poetic and…

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.

Book Details

Author: Anandi Zhang
Print Length: 152
Publisher: Our Home (OH), under Auroville Art Service
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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On Thoughts and Aphorisms (CWM Vol.10)

On Thoughts and Aphorisms

Collected Works of the Mother Volume 10

The Mother’s commentaries on Sri Aurobindo’s Thoughts and Aphorisms were given over the twelve-year period from 1958 to 1970. The commentaries may be divided into four periods according to date, character and form.

  1. Aphorisms 1–12 (1958). Oral replies to questions submitted beforehand in writing by the students, teachers and sadhaks of the Ashram during the Mother’s Wednesday classes at the Ashram Playground.
  2. Aphorisms 13–68 (1960–61). Replies, mostly written, a few oral, to questions written to the Mother by a young instructor of the Ashram’s physical education department.
  3. Aphorisms 69–124 (1962–66). Oral replies to a disciple. During this period the Mother digressed more and more from direct commentary on the aphorisms and used the occasions to explain the experiences she was having at the time.
  4. Aphorisms 125–541 (1969–70). Brief written replies to questions asked by the instructor mentioned above.

Sri Aurobindo wrote these aphorisms around 1913 during the early part of his stay in Pondicherry. Never revised or published during his lifetime, they were first brought out in 1958 under the three headings established by the author: Jnana (Knowledge), Karma (Works) and Bhakti (Devotion).

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Evolution and the Earthly Destiny by Nolini Kanta Gupta

Evolution and the Earthly Destiny

This selection of essays, drawn from the manifold writings of Nolini Kanta Gupta, is dedicated to the youth of India, to those among her children who cherish in some part of their being an aspiration, a living flame of light that yearns towards an ever-growing perfection, a truth of being and becoming as yet vaguely surmised or only partially revealed.

Throughout the many and varied domains of the human adventure, seen here in the light of Sri Aurobindo’s vision of the future, there emerges the one eternal question and dominant theme of our seeking: man past and present, man individual and collective, but always and above all, the ultimate flowering of his life upon earth.

The essays cover five broad topics: Man and the evolution, India and her Swadharma, Education, Science and Philosophy, and Poetry and Mysticism.

Book Details

Author: Nolini Kanta Gupta
Print Length: 354 pages
Publisher: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Submitted by: Avinash Tiwari
Book format: PDF, ePub, Kindle
Language: English Read more

The End of Certainty by Alexis Karpouzos

The End of Certainty

We live in a universe that can be seen and experienced from many different perspectives. We therefore need to look at the universe from many different angles. Everything and everyone is a form of the universe being expressed in a particular way. In other words, each one of us can say with absolute certainly “We are the Universe!” Since we are the universe, each one of us provides a valuable perspective that complements the contributions of everyone and everything else around us. Each of us is the universe being expressed in a particular location in a specific way. We’re all part of the same moving and evolving cosmos, but the view of it is unique from each of our respective locations. This suggests that the universe is not only omnicentric, but that it is also multiperspectival – there are many different, and equally valid, viewpoints on this. Each one of us is a cosmic laboratory within which we can discover the secrets of the universe.We speak in various ways, we are each the universe having become aware of itself in our own unique way.

The insights that the universe has many different perspectives and is both cosmic and personal has great transformative potential, and is worth reflecting on deeply. Creativity and Modern Science Creativity and Theory of relativity In Einstein’s theory of relativity, the notions of events (space and time simultaneity), mass and energy equivalence (special relativity), space expansion (big bang) as well as space and energy-mass equivalence, are introduced. General theory of relativity combined to quantum mechanics leads to the emergence of the whole universe from zero and absolute nothingness. Such “emergence-creation” of the universe from zero does not take place in space or time, since both are identical to the universe, space as energy expansion of the vacant space and time as a measurement unit of movement and change. Hence, the event, as “something” that takes place, and since it takes place, creates space, time and matter-mass-energy, constitutes a novelty.

Book Details

Author: Alexis Karpouzos
Print Length: 58
Original source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333617946_Alexis_karpouzosThe_End_Of_Certainty
Submitted by: Jenny Lavoro
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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Sri Aurobindo’s Humour by Nirodbaran

Sri Aurobindo’s Humour

This book represents a new and, to the general public, quite an unfamiliar aspect of Sri Aurobindo — his humour. There is a common belief that yogis and saints are grave and reserved by nature. They have no sense of humour. Sri Ramakrishna was probably the first among them who is known to have shattered this false notion. Sri Aurobindo was revered and accepted as a great yogi, philosopher and poet, but was considered to be dry and dreary. His sublime philosophical writings dating from the Arya-period were perhaps responsible for this popular misconception. During his political life too he was branded as ’the man who never smiles’. Even to his disciples who saw him only four times a year, he appeared grave and austere, yet with a quiet compassion which made him so lovable as a Guru.

When I wrote to him complaining that his ”Himalayan austerity and grandeur take my breath away, making my heart palpitate!” he replied: ”O rubbish! I am austere and grand, grim and stern! every blasted thing I never was! I groan in an un-Aurobindian despair when I hear such things. What has happened to the common sense of all of you people ? In order to reach the Overmind it is not at all necessary to take leave of this simple but useful quality. Common sense by the way is not logic (which is the least common sense-like thing in the world), it is simply looking at things as they are without inflation or deflation-—not imagining wild imaginations—or for that matter, despairing ’I know not why’ despairs.”

Book Details

Author: Nirodbaran
Print Length: 105p.
Publisher: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Submitted by: Avinash Tiwari
Book format: Pdf, ePub, Kindle
Language: English
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The Mother: Past-Present-Future by Amal Kiran

The Mother: Past-Present-Future

A collection of articles which bear upon the Mother’s life and work, her spiritual achievements, and the event of her passing by Sethna, K.D. (Amal Kiran). These writings, which bear upon the Mother’s life and work, her spiritual achievements, and the event of her passing, convey a sense of her momentous mission for the earth and humanity. They evoke the constant touch of her presence felt by her spiritual children and “the bright surmise inspired for the future by the feeling that her great and gracious labour is endless”. Also included are records of talks with her and reminiscences.

Book Details

Author: Sethna, K.D. (Amal Kiran)

Print Length: 186 pages

Publisher: Mother India

Book format: PDF, ePub, Kindle

Language: English Read more

Companion to Vedic Verses in ‘The Life Divine’ – Vol. II by Mukund Ainapure

Companion to Vedic Verses in ‘The Life Divine’ – Vol. II

All the chapters of CWSA Volume 21 & 22 – The Life Divine – have, below the title, translated quotations from the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and other Sanskrit texts. Sri Aurobindo called these quotations (or, chapter-opening epigraphs) “mottoes”.

The present volume provides the original Sanskrit verses from the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and other Sanskrit texts in Devanagari (without accents), translated and cited by Sri Aurobindo in the “mottoes” in The Life Divine-II (CWSA Volume 22).

The compiler has provided the Padpātha (in Devanagari as well as Roman Transcrip-tion) under each verse in which all euphonic combinations (sandhi) are resolved into the original and separate words and even the components of compound words (samās) indi-cated; and matched each Sanskrit word in the Padpātha with the corresponding English word in the Translation using superscripts, followed by footnotes providing alternative meaning(s) of words and explanatory Notes based on Sri Aurobindo’s writings.

Book Details

Author: Mukund Ainapure
Print Length: 155
Publisher: Mukund Ainapure
Submitted by: Mukund Ainapure
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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