The Nectar within the nectar

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 20^th. 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.

Book Details

Author: Vikas
Print Length: 53
Book format: Pdf
Language: English

Book Download

The paper version of this book is being funded and printed privately and all proceeds from the sale or donations received from recipients of the book will be given to Acres for Auroville, the Land Fund for Auroville, to help purchase the needed land towards completing the consolidation of Auroville the city and its green belt.  Vikas invites all those who download the e-book version of this book to also make a donation.

Sample

The Nectar within the nectar

Heart

Sad heart, there is no sanctuary on Earth,
No earthly arms to comfort you
If once you choose to tread the path
And seek the crown of being.
What lover can with constancy be there
When all must rise and fall upon the tearful stage
And man must live the drama of his joy and pain?
And all the sweetness, all the hope, the trust
From one kind heart will vanish like a dream
That fades and throws you into life’s unpitying fire.
Your prayer, sad heart, was uttered in a space of light.
So now, sad heart, the work begins, along the roads of Night,
Inside the caves of loneliness, where sorrow lurks
To press sweet pain upon your chest.
No turning back, sad heart, nor running, nor respite;
Into the fire leap, with tears and all
Rush onwards to the light.

And now, calm heart, be still and see;
I was the road, the Night; I came to you as sorrow.
Mine were the arms that vanished;
I was the stage, the flame.
Who failed you? Crushed you? Me!
Rejoice, my heart, my fire sets you free.

1970s

Worthiness

We are all not worthy.
Half animal, yet within touching distance of great light,
Great light which we can neither hold nor reside in
We become prey to sudden upsurges from shadow-depths
Caves of life-primacy and the residual infra-human.
We move in zones of duality.
Yearning for the triumph of truth, of unity, of beauty and joy
This is the place around which we seek to unify all our being.
And yet we succumb to all that must go out of the great becoming
Whilst yet knowing that our human state is the field
In which we must live and transform and spend our days
Until all that we do is done consciously –
To know the place for the first time.

No wonder then that our master lay
His arms folded, unfathomable peace and light in his face,
Physically departed, with no clue save to have said
‘You would not understand’.

07.12.2017