The Rhythm Eternal: a dance-drama
One of those days when I had gone to
the Mother, She told me, "I would like you to prepare a
dance-drama." "When, Mother?" I asked. "I will let you
know the date later." She said nothing after that. I took the flowers from Her and She blessed me. I came down from Her room.
A few days passed. Then, I wrote a letter to the Mother:
Douce Mère,
You have asked me to prepare a
dance-drama. Can I do something on the seasons?
Do I have Your consent for doing a
dance-drama on the seasons?
The Mother's reply:
Yes, that's fine. Take a few lines
from Sri Aurobindo.
So, the theme was chosen. I began work
in full earnest. After the Mother's consent, lots of
ideas started churning in my head. I started working
wholeheartedly on the script which was very hard and demanded a lot of
time. On the very first occasion of our meeting after this, the
Mother gave me some
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lovely suggestions - how seasons have
been circulating around the earth since time immemorial, what
each season contributed to the planet, etc. I forgot to note
all these down, but at that time they were still fresh in my mind.
The Mother had asked me to select some lines from Sri
Aurobindo. And so I began the script with lines from Savitri,
Book One, Canto One.
The programme would begin with
Sunil-da's music and this was followed by the Mother's
recorded reading of these lines from Savitri:
It was the hour before the Gods awake.
Across the path of the divine Event
The huge foreboding mind of Night,
alone
In her unlit temple of eternity,
Lay stretched immobile upon Silence'
merge.
There was no dance with these lines,
just Sunil-da's music and Tej-da's play of lights. Then,
some more lines from Savitri followed in the Mother's words
(without any dance):
Almost one felt, opaque, impenetrable,
In the sombre symbol of her eyeless
muse
The abysm of the unbodied Infinite;
A fathomless zero occupied the world.
Sunil-da's music would play on. The
Mother's voice once again:
Then something in the inscrutable
darkness stirred.
At this point, the earth is vaguely
visible on stage. There's a marvellous play of lights around the
earth to show how the life-giving Force quickens within the
heart of our planet. Now, from within the earth and circling
around it, will emerge the seasons:
Three thoughtful seasons passed with
shining tread
And scanning one by one the pregnant
hours
Watched for a flame that lurked in
luminous depths,
The vigil of some mighty birth to come.
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I began working slowly on the script.
Since it was the Mother's wish to get this programme
done, I felt it important to organise it in an appropriate way. I
used the lines from Sri Aurobindo, especially from Savitri, as
my descriptive support. Lines from Sri Aurobindo's epic poem,
Savitri, in the Mother's own voice, slokas from the great poet
Kalidasa's Ritu Samhar set to music, songs of nature from the Poet
of poets, Rabindranath, all these were woven into something
quite impressive. When the script was ready, I myself was moved to
read it. How was I able to prepare such a script? The words of
the Mother echoed in my ears: When I give someone a
responsibility, I also give that person the force to carry it out. I
felt the Mother's help and inspiration constantly guiding me
during the entire preparation of this programme. The first part of
the programme was based on the script. The second part was to
be music. At that time I was already responsible for organising
visiting artists' programmes. I would come in contact with a lot of
artists, get to know some more deeply. I decided to seek the
collaboration of some of them after obtaining the Mother's
consent. Among these was Bhubaneswar Mishra, a violin-player,
music composer and director of the Cuttack All India Radio
station, with whom I was very closely connected. I acquainted
him with this programme. He was delighted to take charge of the
entire orchestration. He got the musicians of the Cuttack radio
station to record some of his superb compositions for the
programme and sent them to us. Raghunath Panigrahi, the
celebrated singer, agreed to compose all the Sanskrit slokas from
Kalidasa's poem. Sahana-di took charge of the songs of
Rabindranath. Tarit Chaudhuri, a Rabindra-sangeet singer, sang some very
beautiful compositions of Tagore under Sahana-di's
direction.
I remember the day of the programme.
The curtains were drawn and the programme started. The
extraordinary lines from Book One, Canto One were heard!
Then the descent of Mother Earth accompanied to Tarit-da's singing:
O enchantress of Earth's heart, O
Mother,
O gentle limpid sunlit Earth, O Mother
of the world.
O enchantress of Earth's heart, O
Mother.
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I still cannot forget the poignaent mood
that was created by Tarit-da's heart-rending song.
This was followed by Maya Mitra's extraordinary sitar-playing.
A lot of singers from the Ashram had lent their voices in the
chorus for the Rabindra-sangeet under Sahana-di's direction. The
musical side became a very lovely aspect of the programme.
Tej-da was in charge of the lighting. Except for the dance,
everything was arranged. I decided to take help from Roshan-ben
and Anu-ben but they could not help me with the dance on
stage. So I asked the Mother what I should do about the
dance. As the script was written by me, the Mother suggested
that I look after the dance choreography, in addition to the
direction and everything else connected with the programme. I could
not say anything to Her. In the midst of lines from such
luminaries like Sri Aurobindo, Kalidasa, Rabindranath, music by such
talented musicians like Bhubaneswar Mishra, Raghunath
Panigrahi, Maya Mitra and Sahana-di, Tarit-da and Sunil-da, I
just wondered how my ordinary dance-compositions would look!
Moreover, I had given up dancing then. I just could not
pluck up enough courage to tell anything to the Mother. I suggested
to the Mother that Sanjukta Panigrahi could come one
week before the actual show, and enact the role of Mother
Earth, which was a very-pivotal role. I could also ask her for help
for my other dance-compositions. The Mother agreed to my proposal and
asked me to try working it out. I am talking
of a time when the telephone was not so much in vogue yet. Thus, I
sent Sanjukta a letter. She was absolutely thrilled and
honoured to have been chosen by the Mother to participate in
an Ashram programme. She began to work on her dance while I
continued to work on the programme on my side. By this time,
Bhubaneswar Mishra had sent me his orchestrated music from
Cuttack. I was impressed with the beauty of his compositions played
by professional musicians of the radio station.
In the Ashram, an air of great
expectation arose around this programme. We were all extremely
busy with our respective responsibilities. One day, Nolini-da sent
for me. He told me that the Mother had selected the
date for the programme:
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3.5.1967. As a large crowd was expected
for the special Darshan of 45.67, the programme was to
be put up on two days, on 3.5 and 5.5. The Mother had
asked me to do this programme for this special occasion. I
handed over a paper to Nolini-da and told him that I had two
possible titles for the programme, The Eternal Rhythm or
Omnipresence. Could he request the Mother to select one?
The Mother crossed out The Eternal
Rhythm and wrote in Her beautiful handwriting The Rhythm
Eternal. And so this is how our dance-drama came to be
called. Everyone in the Ashram waited eagerly for this
programme organised on the occasion of the 4.5.67 special Darshan
of the Mother. One day, at around 10 in the morning, I
went to the Meditation hall to sit quietly for a while. I saw
Udar-da coming down the staircase. He came to me and
enquired, "Shobha, I hear you are doing a dance programme for the
special Darshan of the Mother on 4.5.67?" I nodded. "You know," Udar-da continued, "that this is a programme
on the occasion of a very special Darshan. A lot of people
are coming. Will you be able to handle such a special
programme?" "Well, it is the Mother who asked me to do it," I
replied. "Ah, it is the Mother who asked you?" he asked. I
did not respond to that and left for my work. A few days went
by and I completely forgot about this meeting. Then one
morning, a car began honking loudly outside Red House. There
was no door-bell to our house in those days. I went out
and saw Udar-da in his car. He stretched out his right
hand from the window towards me. I did not quite understand
why he wanted to shake hands with me. He said, "Dear
Shobha, do you know what happened? I asked the Mother if
She had asked you to do the special programme for 4.5.67.
The Mother confirmed it, so I asked, 'Do you think Shobha
will be able to do it?' To which once again the Mother replied, 'Yes.' I was overjoyed to hear this from Her. Truly
overjoyed." I looked at Udar-da and said, "Thank you, Udar-da."
The day of the programme was nearing.
It was almost time for Sanjukta to arrive. I was more or
less ready with my part
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of the work. Bhubaneswar-da, Tej-da,
Raghunath, Tarit-da who lived outside Pondicherry were
requested to come one week before the programme in order to
watch the final show. In the meantime, two unexpected events
took place. I developed carbuncles on both my thighs which made
walking or even sitting difficult. I was seriously
worried :as I had so much work and responsibility on my shoulders
that there was no time for even the slightest rest. Then
a telegram arrived from Sanjukta for the Mother asking Her to
forgive her as due to some unavoidable urgent work, she was
unable to participate in the programme. How was I to get over
these two setbacks? The carbuncles were at such a place and
the pain so bad that even normal activity became terribly
arduous. Plucking all the courage I was capable of, I dragged
myself to the Theater every evening for the rehearsals.
Sanjukta's absence from the programme was also a huge source of
worry. Quite crestfallen, I implored the Mother, praying to Her
to give us some guidance in this pathetic situation. The Mother
reassured me saying that since I had composed the rest of the dances
for the programme, I could easily choreograph
the dance for 'Mother Earth' as well. In fact, She insisted
that I compose the dance. But what about my carbuncles? She
simply ignored that bit, gave it absolutely no importance, as it
were! Helplessly I went on with my physical problem, "Douce
Mere, I'm unwell. How will I dance? Can't we change the
date of the programme?" "No, no," the Mother replied at
once, "how can that be? Everything has been finalised now. This is
a special programme and, therefore, we cannot change the
dates." The Mother caressed my head a few times and said, "Everything will be fine. You will dance on the day of the
programme." After hearing this from the Mother, I simply kept
quiet. I did not tell this to anyone, not even to Ma. Those
who. had a part in this programme and those who knew about
Sanjiukta's coming to portray Mother Earth, kept asking me
repeatedly about her. They may have found out from Tej-da,
Bhubaneswar-da and Raghunath that she was not coming. Then
the countless questions arose, one by one: who is going to dance
then? How will
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you dance? You can hardly walk! Why
don't you take someone else? And so on and so forth. I
remained absolutely still within. I just said what was essential and
kept my silence. It was the day of the light-trial. The entire
programme was ready, it looked and sounded quite fine. The
following day was our dress-rehearsal. I was awfully busy.
Millie-di was a great help with the costumes. We did a run-through
of the whole programme: the first part in costumes,
then the second part also with appropriate costumes. When I saw
the dances in their respective costumes, I realised that
The Rhythm Eternal was slowly taking a beautiful shape. If all
the aspects progressed in the same way, then the programme
would stand on its feet rather well.
The day of the programme arrived. The
Ashram was chock-a-block with people who had come
for the Darshan. On the morning of 3rd May,
I sent a letter along with a bouquet of flowers to the Mother on
behalf of all the participants and I prayed to Her for Her blessings
so that I would come out successfully in this test. I have
already mentioned earlier that the 1st December or any other
programme was to us an offering to the Mother and Sri
Aurobindo. This day also, my call to Them was as sincere and
intense: I just kept calling Her all the time. The Theater started filling up. Everything was ready for the offering. The gong
sounded at the appointed hour, 8 o'clock. Sunil-da's music filled the auditorium and the Mother's voice resounded:
It was the hour before the Gods
awake...
Tej-da's marvellous play of lights
followed by the Mother's voice once again and then again
Sunil-da's music echoed in the air. Then, the play of lights
brought the stage alive accompanied with the Mother's voice.
Now, the spotlight fell on me. I just lost myself in that
celebration of flooding light and I danced movements that my body had
never incarnated before, poses filled the stage that I
had never seen myself. The entire programme began unfolding
before my eyes like a dream. All trace of pain just
vanished from my body. My
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dancing body moved with such fluid
grace and uninterrupted rhythm that I myself was taken aback.
It was now time for the last scene. I had to dance a duet with
Spring. Bhubaneswar-da's remarkably orchestrated music played on
and created a veritable atmosphere of gaiety.
Spring in the heart of the Earth! New life and a new spirit
infused Mother Earth as the concluding lines from Savitm' were
heard in the Mother's voice. This combined with Sunil-da's
music and Tej-da's lights brought an otherworldly feeling
to the Earth as the six Seasons circled around her. And against
a light-blue golden backdrop the curtains gently closed to
the sweeping uplift of Sunil-da's brilliant composition.
The curtains were now drawn and silence
reigned for a while. Krishna who had played the role
of Spring as well as all the others who had danced with me
(whose names I do not recollect now) stood around me on
the stage in silence. After these few seconds of silence, the
auditorium burst into applause and it continued for quite
some time. The stage was still dark. Everyone around me left the
stage to go into the green-room. Some people came backstage
to express their appreciation. Udar-da was the first
among them. There were also Tej-da, Bhubaneswar-da, Raghunath,
Vishwanath-da and many more. I remained absolutely
tranquil as if a huge flood of peace had inundated my mind, heart
and body. Some-where deep within me I had the
conviction and faith that when the Mother had assured me that I
would dance on the final day, She would also make it
happen. And yet, a slight spot of doubt also lurked somewhere in
the being: would I be capable of being a worthy instrument of
Her grace?
The Rhythm Eternal has left an
indelible mark on my life, a deeply rooted experience. The
atmosphere created by Sri Aurobindo's lines from Savitri,
Sunil-da's music, Tej-da's lighting had transported me to some
other world and this feeling remained with me for several
days after the programme. I observed a great change within me.
After the programme was over, my mind quite stilled and that
deep experience I had gone through well-protected in my inner
being, I returned home.
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The following day when I went to see
Nolini-da, I came to know that a proposal had been put
forward to the Mother to have one additional show besides the
one slated for the 5th of May. And the Mother had agreed.
After talking to Pranab-da, the Mother had asked Nolini-da to inform
me about this show being fixed for the 7th. After
telling me this Nolini-da said to me that he had gone to see the
dance-drama and had liked it very much. I requested
Nolini-da to ask the Mother if She would agree to see me for Pranam
for a very short while on the 5th or the 6th of May. He
told me to come back the following afternoon at half past
two for the Mother's answer. The Mother gave Her consent for
me to go and see Her on that 5th afternoon itself at 3.30
after seeing some other people. I went up to Her with some flowers. She held both my hands in Hers and looked into me for
quite some time. She seemed to be in Her Mahalakshmi
aspect. Then She said, "My dear child, do you know what you
have done? You have conquered the impossible. I knew that
you were capable of this." The Mother had to see a couple
of other people after me and so I could not stay with Her for
very long. However, these few words from Her and Her
blessings have guided me all along my life. Under the influence
of the Mother's divine force, our inner and outer beings were
deeply touched and the programme itself had been rendered
possible in a way that our ordinary human endeavour could
never have been able to achieve.
That is why today as I remember that
descent of the Mother's extraordinary divine force,
my whole being sings aloud:
Victoire à la Douce Mère!
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