An Extraordinary Girl by Nirodbaran

An Extraordinary Girl

Nirodbaran narrated to Sri Aurobindo an incident that had taken place in Calcutta. The Mother was present during the narration. The incident concerned a girl of about ten or twelve. She belonged to a very well-known family and had visited the Ashram with her parents more than once. Now there was a tea-party in their sumptuous house. Many high-ranking people had been invited. The topic of the Ashram came up. Comments and criticisms started flying freely. Even the Mother and Sri Aurobindo were not spared. The child listened quietly. But when somebody seemed to overstep the limit of decency, she could stand it no longer. In a firm tone she said, “Look here, if you speak one more word about my Gurus, I’ll give you such a slap that you’ll tumble down.” Everybody was stunned. The child’s mamma left the room in shame and anger at the insult to her guests. Her uncle started looking at the ceiling in embarrassment, and to change the subject he started calling to the servants, “Hari, Ram, what a lot of dust is here!” Nirodbaran’s story was enjoyed by all immensely. The Mother and Sri Aurobindo looked happy.

Esha, the late Dilip Kumar Roy’s niece, was a little girl visiting the Ashram when I came to know her through my niece Jyotirmoyee with whom she had become very friendly. She wanted to settle in the Ashram, but her mother did not want it as she was still a minor. When after many years she came to the Ashram again and stayed with Sahana Devi, I became more closely acquainted with her. By that time she had already married and obtained her divorce and had decided to settle here. I came to her help and made all possible arrangements for the purpose. Since then I have come to know her well and listened to her narration of the incidents of her life. As I found them interesting I began to note them down and was thinking of publishing them in Mother India when somehow she got wind of it and strongly objected to it. As I felt I had Sri Aurobindo’s sanction for it, I did not listen to her. In spite of my disregarding her objection, luckily she did not stop recounting her saga. Of course she narrated it in Bengali and later I put it down in English as faithfully as I could. When the story began to appear in Mother India, she insisted more than once that I should stop it. My answer was that I believed it could be helpful to many readers and that Sri Aurobindo seemed to support me.

We find that many bhaktas are indeed appreciating the story, particularly because they realise through it that Sri Aurobindo is still very much with us and our faith has been strengthened, helping us through the difficult moments of our life. – NIRODBARAN

Book Details

Author: Nirodbaran
Print Length: 125p.
Publisher: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Submitted by: Avinash Tiwari
Book format: Pdf, ePub, Kindle
Language: English
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Nature Lures

Nature Lures

The poems in this collection come from the daily experiences and observations of a “child” living, playing, and growing in nature.

Each poem came in their own time and flow here from dawn till dark — the womb of light.

Book Details

Author: Anandi Zhang
Print Length: 130
Publisher: Our Home, Auroville
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s Plans for Founding Auroville by Loretta Shartsis (Chinese-English)

Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s Plans
for Founding Auroville (Chinese-English)

本文内容整理自黎明之城居民洛雷塔(Loretta Shartsis)向“过渡学校(Transition School)”的孩子们做的一次分享。她在这次分享中谈到母亲和室利 · 阿罗频多是如何开创黎明之城的。

This is a talk by Aurovilian Loretta Shartsis to the children of Transition School, in which she talked about Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s plans for founding Auroville.

Book Details

作者/Author: Loretta Shartsis;
中文翻译/Chinese translation：清宁(Anandi Zhang);
校对Proofread by：艾千又(Ai Qianyou), 刘丽君(Liu Lijun)、石思宇(Nancy Shi)
Print Length: 60
Book format: Pdf
Language: Chinese and English
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New Correspondences of the Mother – II

New Correspondences of the Mother – II

This book contains the Mother’s correspondence with nine disciples, all of them members of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Each correspondence is presented in chronological order, with the question or comment of the disciple provided whenever possible. A brief life sketch of each disciple appears at the beginning of his or her correspondence.

The reader should note that the word “new” does not mean “published here for the first time”, but rather “not published in the Collected Works of the Mother and therefore new to most of its readers”. The Collected Works was organised and published around 1978, at the time of the Mother’s centenary. More than forty years have passed since then and a number of new correspondences have come to light, including those in this book. Five are being published here for the first time. The remaining four have been published in books or in the Ashram’s quarterly journal Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education or in both.

The nine correspondences in this book supplement those published in Collected Works Volumes 16 and 17.

Book Details

Author: The Mother
Print Length: 590
Publisher: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Book format: Pdf, ePub, mobi (Kindle)
Language: English
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Living India

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.

Book Details

Author: Anandi Zhang
Print Length: 117
Publisher: Our Home (OH), under Auroville Art Service
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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The English of Savitri (Volume 12)

The English of Savitri
volume 12

Like the previous volumes in the English of Savitri series, this one too is based on transcripts of classes held by the author at Savitri Bhavan, in this case from January 2014 to July 2014 and from July 2015 to October 2015. The transcripts have been carefully revised and edited for conciseness and clarity, while aiming to preserve the informal atmosphere of the course. This Twelfth Volume covers Book Six, The Book of Fate; Book Eight, The Book of Death and Book Nine, The Book of Eternal Night 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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More Answers from the Mother (CWM Vol.17)

Words of the Mother – II

Collected Works of the Mother Volume 17

This volume contains the Mother’s correspondence with six members of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The material covers a thirty-five year period, from 1932 to 1968. All the correspondences are presented in chronological order. Two of them were written in English; four were written wholly or partly in French and appear here in translation. Further information is given in the Note on the Texts.

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Some Answers from the Mother (CWM Vol.16)

Some Answers from the Mother

Collected Works of the Mother Volume 16

This volume contains the Mother’s correspondence with fourteen persons; all but one of them were members of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The material covers a forty-five year period, from 1927 to 1972. The earliest items are letters of the Mother to her son; the latest are brief thoughts and prayers written in a young disciple’s notebook. Each of the correspondences is presented in chronological order, with the exception of Series Six, which is arranged by theme. Two correspondences were written in English; twelve were written wholly or partly in French and appear here in translation. Further information is provided in the Note on the Texts.

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Words of the Mother – III (CWM Vol.15)

Words of the Mother – III

Collected Works of the Mother Volume 15

This volume is divided into two parts, the first part containing writings, the second part, conversations.

Part One consists primarily of brief written statements by the Mother on various aspects of spiritual life. Written between the early 1930s and the early 1970s, the statements have been compiled from her public messages, private notes, and correspondence with disciples. About two-thirds of them were written in English; the rest were written in French and appear here in English translation. There are also a small number of spoken comments, most of them in English. Some are tape-recorded messages; others are reports by disciples that were later approved by the Mother for publication. These reports are identified by the symbol § placed at the end.

Part Two consists of thirty-two conversations not included elsewhere in the Collected Works. The first six conversations are the earliest recorded conversations of the 1950s’ period. About three-fourths of these conversations were spoken in French and appear here in English translation.

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Words of the Mother – II (CWM Vol.14)

Words of the Mother – II

Collected Works of the Mother Volume 14

Short written statements on Yoga and life, dealing with the individual’s relationship with the Divine, the path of Yoga, qualities needed in Yoga, difficulties of spiritual life, and human relationships and work.

This volume consists primarily of brief written statements by the Mother on various aspects of spiritual life. Written between the late 1920s and the early 1970s, the statements have been compiled from her public messages, private notes, and correspondence with disciples. About two-thirds of them were written in English; the rest were written in French and appear here in English translation. The volume also contains a small number of spoken comments, most of them in English. Some are tape-recorded messages; others are reports by disciples that were later approved by the Mother for publication. These reports are identified by the symbol § placed at the end.

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