Preparing for the Miraculous

Foreword

The talks in this book have been delivered in Auroville, the first four at the Townhall in September, the following six at Savitri Bhavan in November and December 2010. The talk on “The Kalki Avatar” was also held at the Townhall, in February 2011, in the context of the seminar on “Mutation II”.

I had been invited to give talks in Europe, the USA and India, but I had to cancel all travelling plans because of my heart condition. This led to the idea of giving a series of talks in Auroville, where I am living, and to record them so that the people who had invited me would be able, if they so desired, to have the talks all the same. After having delivered the series it was found worthwhile to round it off by making the talks also available in writing.

The texts in this collection are not transcriptions of the talks, they are what I call “write-outs,” presenting a readable version of the spoken word. Each text follows the talk faithfully and treats a given topic in its entirety, yet these are not polished-up essays which are supposed to exhaust their subject and could in each case easily be extended into a book.

The reader may find that repetitions occur, even of quotes. I have kept these repetitions because I thought that they create an inner resonance which connects the various topics into a whole which reflects, as I dare to hope, the Aurobindian vision behind it.

I wish to thank fellow-Aurovillians Anandi Breton and Joseba Martinez for suggesting to give the talks; Bindu Mohanty and Carel Thieme for their initiative of organizing them; Shraddhavan for her hospitality at Savitri Bhavan; Sergey Stanovykh for the video recordings; Joel Van Lierde and the people of the Auroville Radio for the audio recordings; and Muriel Ghion and Antim Singhi for their kind assistance when giving the talks. Also thanks, once more, to Carel Thieme for reading the texts in spite of his busy schedule.

Last but not least I would like to thank the Aurovillian audiences. Their empathy and aspiration have each time created the atmosphere which carried me through the talks and made them an unforgettable experience for me.

Georges Van Vrekhem