Medhananda

We have heard stories of Mother's children who have come to her from distant lands, drawn to Her and to Sri Aurobindo by an inner connection. Reading their lives one feels as if destiny was leading them on, preparing them, till they finally found their home at Her Feet. One such life was Medhananda's.

Medhananda (1908-1994), whose 100th birth anniversary fell on April 28, 2008, was a multi-faceted personality. Head of the Ashram's library for many years, he was also an author and editor and a researcher into the meanings of ancient symbols and myths. He combined a profound intellect with the sparkle of a psychic joy. In fact, the name given to him by the Mother contains the two distinctive characteristics that his friends recall about him: "medha" (mind) and "ananda" (delight, bliss).

Born in Pforzheim, Germany to a wealthy engineer and industrialist, he was named Fritz Winkelstroeter. With the first pocket-money he received, he bought a book on Hindu gods — to the great astonishment of his family. Despite his early interest in ancient cultures and their symbols and spirituality, he followed the wishes of his father and studied law at Munich, Heidelberg, and Paris. In 1934, although he was already launched on a promising legal career, he left Germany with his French wife to escape the rise of Nazism. They went to the other side of the globe, Tahiti, and then to its sister island Moorea, where they bought 200 hectares of virgin forest, built a small house, and established themselves as farmers, cultivating vanilla and coffee.

In Tahiti, where he spent sixteen years, Medhananda found exceptionally favourable conditions for delving deeper into the inner and higher realms of his being. Solitude, peace, and an environment of paradisiacal beauty and harmony were naturally very congenial for his extended explorations of the vastnesses within, around, and beyond him. His was an entirely spontaneous yoga.

It was after the end of the Second World War that the only bookseller in Tahiti started receiving, along with the latest novels, works by or about Sri Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Sankaracharya, and a list of books by Sri Aurobindo. Medhananda plunged into Sri Aurobindo's books, saturated himself in them. When he was given Sri Aurobindo's book The Mother by a friend, it ignited a spiritual explosion in his well-prepared field of consciousness. He notes, "... just now when I opened that marvelous little book of Sri Aurobindo, when my eyes fell on the title "The Mother", She penetrated me like an arrow. I do not know when I shall be able to read this book coherently. I have hardly started, when the joy of his words prevents me from continuing."

Then Medhananda wrote to Sri Aurobindo, who sent a reply through Pavitra. One of the experiences that he recounts of that time testifies to the deep connection that he had already built with the Master. One early morning in the busy marketplace in Tahiti, he suddenly became aware that his consciousness had left his body behind and was travelling through the intergalactic spaces. When he wanted to return to his body, he realised he could not find the way back to his mother planet, Earth. But then he remembered, "Oh, I came from Sri Aurobindo's planet!", and the contact with his body was re-established.

For several months the Ashram heard nothing from him, except orders for new books of Sri Aurobindo as they were published. Then, on 31 August 1951, after receiving a brochure from Pavitra, Medhananda wrote, "I am enthusiastic after reading the prospectus of the University Centre in Pondicherry. I send you my best wishes for an early start. At the same time, I renew my offer of unconditional service, from cleaning the rooms to collaboration in higher studies of comparative mysticism. Meanwhile I could help you lay bricks. All my aspiration lies behind these wishes. Please receive the expression of my total devotion." The Mother gave him permission to come to the Ashram. After travelling for two months, he reached his Mother's home on the 15th February 1952. The first interview given by the Mother to Medhananda was almost entirely silent. She told him "Since long I am following you."" On the 26th of the same month she gave him his name "Medhananda".

Medhananda was put in charge of the Sri Aurobindo Library. He also taught the History of Religions at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, a position he was well-qualified for by his lifelong interest in and study of the spiritual cultures of different ages and parts of the world. In 1965 he started editing the quarterly journal Equals One, for which he wrote numerous articles. Equals One, or "=1" as its cover would represent it, reflected Medhananda's original and insightful mind and his playful and poetic style. The journal's presentation too was innovative and unique. In 1978 he founded, together with his collaborator Yvonne Artaud, the Identity Research Institute, a non-profit foundation for psychological research. It was from about 1970 onwards that he started an in-depth exploration of the symbology of the hieroglyphs and pictorial imagery of ancient Egypt, using the psychological approach which Sri Aurobindo had initiated for the interpretation of the Vedas. Apart from his writings, there are also a large number of Medhananda's informal talks which have been recorded. Selections from these are the basis of two books, With Medhananda on the shores of infinity (autobiographical material) and On the threshold of a new age with Medhananda (overview of his thought). Over 400 hours of recorded talks in German are still in the process of being transcribed and edited.

One of the recurrent themes that runs through Medhananda's writings is the sense of the oneness of things, of the oneness of the universe. His years in Moorea in the lap of Nature no doubt contributed in making him keenly aware of this oneness, of the continuity of things and their interconnectedness, the warp and weft that is this universe. He recounts an experience that he had in Moorea of an identification with a big tree: "One day on our estate on Moorea I was sitting beside a little stream, leaning against a tree....Then I felt a presence behind me. First I noticed the rough trunk I was leaning against; then the tree began to vibrate inaudibly, in a very special way, something a little like a cat purring: it was a slow vibration of contentment. This corresponded with a deep note inside me. Gradually I let myself be overcome by this contentment, and a door opened. Soon the whole body was seized by this ananda and I found I had become a tree: I was a tree. I lost awareness of my human body. I remained a tree for a long time. I experienced the rhythmic pulsation of the sap being pumped upwards, the sparkling play of sunlight in the foliage, the vivid intimate presence of everything that lives in it, and all the little plants round about it. It was a real paradise for that tree, to have its roots bathing in the coolness of the river. Its crown was very large and higher than the other treetops. It is very pleasant, soothing and enriching to be a tree. That species of tree is found in India too. The Mother called it 'Health'."

Along with his profound and wide knowledge, his friends and associates do not forget to mention his keen sense of humour. As Agnidhan recalls, "It was a great privilege to be with him, to breathe in his powerful, luminous atmosphere. Unforgettable are those beautiful hours in the af- ternoon when we, a small group of friends would meet in the Library garden, asking questions and listening in rapt self-forgetfulness to what he shared with us from his vast store of knowledge and experience. His remarks were often spiced with a trace of provocation, and there was always this wonderful sense of humour, of amusement, and the hilarious laughter, the playfulness. He did not take anything too seriously."

Medhananda left his body on 26 May 1994.