... character was Benjamin. The year Mother came to Pondicherry for the first time with Paul Richard, a few local young lads were attracted to Mother and became attached to her. Benjamin was a local Christian boy. In the beginning the local Christians nursed a lot of hatred for the Ashram. When they saw Benjamin become Mother's devotee they used to belittle and curse him too. But Benjamin paid no... finger trying to punch Benjamin." Page 77 One day Benjamin started a quarrel during a game of tennis. Raju, who was their captain, went up and told Benjamin: "You must listen to me, I'm your ..." Instead of saying 'captain' his tongue faltered and he said: "You must listen to me, I'm your 'husband'!" Everyone burst into loud laughter. From then on Benjamin began to be called "Mrs... heed at all. There was a club in the town in those days where Benjamin, Suresh Chakrabarty and Nolini-da used to play football. Benjamin's work in the Ashram was repairing umbrellas, making slippers, caps and shorts. His caps were nick- named after him 'Benjamin cap'. We had a team of football players whose president was Benjamin. I remember going to him to get a pair of shorts made. He ...
... sending her a bottle. February 15, 1938 You have asked Benjamin to take some vegetables. How to give them? Only boiled? They can't be fried, can they? I suppose he can take fried things, but you might ask André about it. It is pepper and spices he fears, not oil or ghee. February 18, 1938 For Benjamin, are the vegetables to be fried here? Or we can ask Lakshmi to do... February 20, 1938 Should we give Romen treatment for his enlarged liver? You can start the treatment. Benjamin has been advised to take raw tomatoes. Can he buy them himself from the bazaar? The tomatoes can be bought from the Bazaar, but surely Benjamin has no strength to go himself to buy them. Guru, please have a look at this poem... [ Sri Aurobindo ] What the deuce... Where the deuce do you get these ideas? From Dilip? The Supra-mental being the absolute of all good things, must equally be the absolute of humour also. Q.E.D. February 25, 1938 Benjamin doesn't like boiled vegetables. He wants them fried. The other day Dr. André took the vegetables home and had them fried for him. [ Mother :] Is it not possible to have them fried in the dispensary ...
... “Mother I have passed the exam!” She held both my hands and said: “Go to Benjamin tomorrow. You will start learning French with him. He is a wonderful teacher of French pronunciation.” The Mother had in a flash organised everything. And that is how I began my French lessons. I went to Benjamin the following day. Benjamin was a Tamil gentleman, a sweet, humourous sort of man. As he sat down to teach... life is a painful illusion, with the Divine, all is bliss.) I kept pronouncing the words exactly as he did and kept telling myself: “How will I remember anything without understanding?” Mr. Benjamin said: “Now, let me explain.” I stared at him, slightly perplexed. “You’ll understand later,” he continued, “what an invaluable thought I have given you in our first French lesson.” For many... many years now these words have come to my mind again and again: Without the Divine, life is a painful illusion, with the Divine, all is bliss. After remembering the words of the Mother that Benjamin had taught me, I suddenly recollect a great change that took place in my life. I was very young then, hardly nine or ten. One day, my elder brother who himself was eleven or twelve told me: “You ...
... general movement; for I hear that our Benjamin had the courage to slap M yesterday. The fellow has some guts, I must say. The Supramental seems to be descending this time, the head, I mean! But it is really striking that M kept calm when he could have easily pulverised the fellow! Well, that is a result of the supramental also! But perhaps M felt that Benjamin was too small and weakly a figure to... ill. Romen needs a pair of wooden sandals as the leather ones irritate the patches of eczema he has. Could you please sanction a pair? [ Mother :] Surely he must have. It is to be asked from Benjamin. Romen was telling me to-day that he always feels tired, very tired, and very often he has head-ache. Is it due to liver? Can nothing be done to relieve him? Nirod I send you X's latest epistle... to demolish. He apologised to the Mother for having lost his control as far as to speak violently to Benjamin!! July 23, 1938 There is some trouble now about Benoy's glass eye that we ordered from the Company in Bombay. It does not suit him; he says we should return this one and he will ask friends in Calcutta to send one. I don't think the Company will return us the money. We can only ...
... above. ( Later, regarding the last conversation, in which Mother said that the body lives only out of a habit of living: ) I've had a very interesting experience (not personal). Did you know Benjamin 3 ?... His psychic being had left him quite some time ago and, as a result, to the surface consciousness he seemed a bit deranged—he wasn't deranged but diminished. And he lived, as I said, out... then, there had been no sign of him. Yesterday evening, after dinner (which is about the same time he left twelve days ago), I was in concentration, resting, when suddenly here comes a very agitated Benjamin who tells me, "Mother, they've taken all the furniture out of my room! What am I to do now!?" I told him gently, "Do not fret, you don't need anything any more." Then I put him to rest and sent him... the cells violently—it took twelve days to form again. It wasn't his soul (it had already left) but the spirit of his body that came to me, the body consciousness gathered in a well-dressed, neat Benjamin with his hair neatly brushed. He was quite trim when he came to me, just as he would have been in life: he always wanted to be well-groomed and impeccable to see me, that was his way. It took twelve ...
... laughingly said, "So I told him, 'You don't need any religion!' "He said, 'Oh, there is another man here who also can't find a religion.' "And that was Benjamin!" He was a football player in Nolini's batch; a Pondicherian Christian, Benjamin yet lived in the Ashram where he did a part of the tailoring work for the inmates; he died in 1963. I remember how, during the war years, he and Moni 1 used... with French patriotic songs. Mother continued, "I said, 'He is an idiot! He doesn't need to find a religion!"' She laughed again, struck by the incongruity of the situation. "There you are. . . . Benjamin lost in a marvellous forest —it's beautiful, you know! —because he can't find a religion! And Pralhad looking for a religion!" Then Mother wished to send a comforting word to Prahlad's grieving ...
... proposes to take more rice and bread instead of fruits. [ Mother :] If she takes bread and butter it will help. R.B. has no pain today. Can she begin work? [ Mother :] She may try. Does Benjamin still require special cooking? [ Mother :] Ask André— We have a meat extract lying here, bought for Raymond Shall we give it to Bala? [ Mother :] Yes, but it is better if he takes it in... understood. R.B. has no pain, but no appetite at all! Shall I try small doses of arsenic? It may give good effects. [ Mother :] You can try—with prudence. Dr. André says that cooking for Benjamin is no longer necessary. I shall inform him tomorrow. [ Mother :] But it must be ascertained that he eats the asram food. It is by not taking it (he does not like it) that he got so bad— For... have postponed the screen exam. But if you think it's better to do it, I can take him for it. [ Mother :] No, it is better not to have it done as it might make him anxious for his health. Benjamin says that he can't take Asram food at all. He has taken it before "with difficulty and against his heart"! I suppose, we have to continue? [ Mother :] Yes. June 23, 1938 Lalita came ...
... can't find the religion." I told him, "You don't need a religion!" He said, "Oh, there's another man here who can't find a religion." And that was Benjamin! 5 I said, "He's an idiot! He doesn't need to find a religion! " There you are: Benjamin lost in a mar-vel-ous forest (it's beautiful, you know!) because he can't find a religion! And Pralhad looking for a religion!... So I wanted to send ...
... Aurobindo's uninhibited humour may be gauged from a little incident connected with my experiment in learning to ride a cycle. After some private practice on a small scale I took a machine out from Benjamin, the sadhaka who used to keep the cycle-store. On returning home from the long adventure I wrote to Sri Aurobindo: "My first cycle-ride went off very well. Just one fall into the gutter... set right. Scratches on the chain-guard. Couldn't be removed at once; nothing very serious — a few touches of paint will remedy them. I hope the Mother won't mention anything about the pedal to Benjamin." Page 71 Sri Aurobindo's reply ran: "All right. You remind me of the servant girl who had an illegitimate child but pleaded to her mistress. 'Please, maam, it is only ...
... accorded on his return. He later became the Mayor of Pondicherry. I also recall the story of our Benjamin. His mother burst into sobs as she learnt he was to leave our shores. There were so many mothers and sisters who had to shed bitter tears as they saw off at the pier the boatloads of men. Benjamin however did not have to go. He became a "reforme", that is, disqualified in the medical test. ...
... his return. He later became the Mayor of Pondicherry. I also recall the story of our Benjamin. His mother burst into sobs as she learnt he was Page 485 to leave our shores. There were so many mothers and sisters who had to shed bitter tears as they saw off at the pier the boatloads of men. Benjamin- however did not have to go. He became a "reformé", that is, disqualified in the medical ...
... writing was a syncretism of Judaism and Gnosticism. From Gnosticism came the cosmological concept, a theory about 'the elements of the world' (Col. 2:8)." We should then hardly be surprised when Benjamin W. Bacon 75 tells us how in Matthew's period - c. 90 AD according to Bacon, which is almost the same as Brown's estimate* - Gnostic Docetism, with the Jew Cerinthus at Ephesus as its principal ...
... (Correspondence with Amrita) Amrita's Correspondence with The Mother 5 May 1933 Amrita, Benjamin is offering to take up the surveillance of Ammani for the mending work, until something is arranged. Ammani must be informed and Nolini will have to go with her to the Cocotiers to fetch all the things she was using for this mending work. A small almirah ...
... records). In a year or two we got some sophistication. We called in the Police Brass Band to play for us. Selvanadin was a frequent visitor to Monsieur Benjamin’s house. (Now Children’s Dispensary — M. Benjamin was an interesting character, an Ashramite. He taught French in our school, repaired umbrellas and mattresses, was incharge of the drinking water filter and the six or seven bicyles that our Ashram ...
... in favour of rebirth, and only one or two of the most relevant points should be borne in mind. Notable Westerners have believed in reincarnation: Pythagoras, Plato, Leonardo da Vinci, Leibniz, Benjamin Franklin, Goethe, Shelley, Victor Hugo, Balzac, Richard Wagner, Walt Whitman, Nietzsche, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Gauguin, Strindberg, Mondriaan, Jung, H. G. Wells. It was the great composer and ...
... esteemed Salon (exhibition) of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts in 1903, 1904 and 1905. ‘I have been living among the artists for ten years … I met all great painters of that time and I was the Benjamin among them. That was at the end of the last century and the beginning of the present one, with the World Exhibition of 1900 and all those who by then had made a name for themselves in the arts.’ ...
... football. In this way they befriended some of the youngsters from town. As Nolini writes in his Reminiscences: ‘Among our first acquaintances in Pondicherry were some of the young men here … Sada, Benjamin, Jules Rassendren, David … Gradually they formed a group of Sri Aurobindo’s devotees. The strange thing about it was that they were all Christians. We did not have much of a response from the local ...
... postponing tendency, though his line in its proper context has hardly the same mood. Detached from Macbeth's mouth, it is most apt with its emphatic Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow... Benjamin Franklin with his adage - "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today" - would have been furious; but perhaps our mood is tinged with the Browning-ian sense of a hidden eternity in our depths: ...
... their field, she must be able to do the same with the capacities of others. If she gives charge of a department of work to one, that must not stand in the way of her consulting or using others. Thus Benjamin and Chandulal are in charge of the building work, but the Mother consults Pavitra too because of his scientific knowledge as an engineer and he has the right to make suggestions or criticisms or indicate ...
... their field, she must be able to do the same with the capacities of others. If she gives charge of a department of work to one, that must not stand in the way of her consulting or using others. Thus Benjamin and Chandulal are in charge of the building work, but the Mother consults P. too because of his scientific knowledge as an engineer and he has the right to make suggestions or criticisms or indicate ...
... mouth. Such was the end, Echecrates, of our friend; concerning whom I may truly say, that of all the men of his" time whom I have known, he was the wisest and justest and best. Translation by Benjamin Jowett (abridged) * * * Page 122 The Death of Socrates by David (detail) Page 123 Page 124 Top: The theatre at Dodona ...
... three or four times a day. January 27, 1936 Is it advisable for people, e.g. P, S, etc. to go and see Mulshankar now and then? No. Mother had already written to P and B refusing. Benjamin has phimosis. What kind of medical animal is this? January 28, 1936 You forgot to have a look at Nishikanta's poetry yesterday? It has come back just as I sent it—want of time and ...
... Can one be in a serious mood throughout the day? It is quite possible—only it is not a mood, but a quiet and ardent consciousness. March 13, 1933 May I take French lessons from Benjamin? You can. I hear there will be music 4 tomorrow at 4.30 p.m. May I come away at 4 from my work to get a good seat? It is at 5 o'clock. Nolini has told you, I suppose, that I intend ...
... Dilip and myself have decided to cycle of to the Lake in the early hours of the morning. As it is not possible to get a cycle at that hour from outside, what about getting it from here? Can't ask Benjamin for a cycle at that time. He would eat our heads off and yours too. This cyclo-mania is becoming too epidemic—we won't be able to supply at that rate. And this time it's not a "melancholiac" that ...
... rate poets who have actually written poetry—but all poets are perhaps also mystics in disguise (or without disguise), and at least the overhead aesthesis must partake of the mystical experience. Benjamin Kurtz is thus right when he observes: Is not mysticism of the essence of all deep aesthetic experience? If mysticism is a visioned conviction of a super- sensuous super-rational ...
... of rights?" Among our first acquaintances in Pondicherry were some of the young men here. The very first among them was Sada—you have known him, for he kept up with us till the end. Next came Benjamin, Rassendren and a few others. Rassendren joined us again at the end of his career; in his early days he had been our playmate. Gradually, they formed a group of Sri Aurobindo's devotees. The strange ...
... of the game, but there was about his manner something loose' and slovenly; he had no style or system. But often enough he hacked his way to victory by sheer force of vital energy. Bejoy and our Benjamin with his leech like grip – they were the two half-backs in our team followed exactly the same method. In fact, there are two essentials to a good game: grammar and style, or grammar and rhythm ...
... over to cousin when dealing with another family? Can we question that Paul knew Hebrew and Aramaic? The Jerusalem Bible 16 quotes him as saying: "I was born of the race of Israel and of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrew parents... As for the Law, I was a Pharisee..." (Philippians 3:5). The annotation 17 refers to Acts 21:40 and informs us that "Paul spoke Aramaic,... unlike the hellenist ...
... with The Mother 30 April 1933 Mother, Balanarayan has accepted all your conditions — to return every evening to Cycle House at the time fixed by Benjamin and to obey all the rules of the House. The important points being: no smoking, no chewing tobacco, no taking snuff. 30 April 1933 ...
... on the mystical meaning of these two most famous poetic passages from his work, espe-cially of the second, there could not be anything more succinctly apt than the following from a letter of his to Benjamin Bailey: "I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the Heart's affections and the truth of Imagination - What the Imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth - whether it existed before or not ...
... aspect of the Krishna saga. 2 But in the Arthaśāstra the destroyer and the destroyed are comrades-in-arms. Obviously the treatise preserves the remnant of a legend from pre-Vaishnava times. Benjamin Walker 2 sums up the old information: "The name often occurs in the Vedas and other early literature without reference to any deity. Krishna, son of Devakī, is mentioned in the Chhāndogya Upanishad ...
... TURNED INTO A SAINT 42.FACTS ARE STRANGER THAN FICTION 43.THE DIVIDED HORSECLOTH—Bernier 44.GEORGE WASHINGTON 45.A TALE OF TRUE HEROISM 46.THE MAN WITH AN AXE TO GRIND—from Benjamin Franklin's autobiography 47.SAANTANI, MANGARAAJ'S WIFE—from SIX ACRES & A HALF by Fakir Mohan Senapati 48.ALEXANDER'S COOK 59. HOW MUCH LAND DOES A MAN NEED Page 503 ...
... the Indian psyche, the highest dream for eventual realization. Sri Rama has been regarded and worshipped in India as God incarnated as an ideal man, an Avatar. 53. Commentary on the Phaedo by Benjamin Jowett 54. Cebes of Thebes, was a disciple of Socrates and Philolaus. He is one of the speakers in the Phaedo of Plato. Plato depicts him as a sincere seeker of truth and virtue. 55. Meno ...
... my hospital visits now? But cycles aren't allowed to be taken out in rainy weather, so? It is because the rider gets wet and the bicycle rusted. But if you can arrive at an understanding with Benjamin 48 — There is an application for permanent residentship—X, son of B, husband of A. He had made himself something like a physical wreck in Africa, says he is all right now. Mother wants you to ...
... have decided to cycle off to the Lake in the early hours of the morning. As it is not possible to get a cycle at that hour from outside, what about getting it from here? Sri Aurobindo: Can't ask Benjamin for a cycle at that time. He would eat our heads off and yours too. This cyclomania is becoming too epidemic - we won't be able to supply at that rate. NB: And this time it's not a "melancholiac" ...
... got urticarial rashes all over the body. André asks us to wait and see. [The Mother underlined "urticarial rashes".] [ Mother :] Is it not that she has been given too strong medicines? Benjamin wants onions also in the vegetables. As you don't favour onions, I hesitate. [ Mother :] You can give him. March 7, 1938 "In my soul's still moments you bring A rapture from the ...
... listened to the pitapat of the rain on my barrack roof— 0 doux bruit de la pluie, Par terre et sur les toits! Pour un coeur qui s 'ennuie, Oh! le chant de la pluie! Benjamin Disraeli, the great English statesman of the nineteenth century, has written: "Other men condemned to exile and captivity, if they survive, despair; the man of letters may reckon those days as the ...
... of rights?" Among our first acquaintances in Pondicherry were some of the young men here. The very first among them was Sada – you have known him, for he kept up with us till the end. Next came Benjamin, Rassendren and a few others. Rassendren has joined us again at the end of his career; in his early days he had been our playmate. Gradually, they formed a Page 414 group of Sri ...
... there was about his manner something loose and slovenly; he had no style or system. But often enough he hacked his way to victory by sheer force of vital energy. Page 94 Bejoy and our Benjamin with his leech-like grip— they were the two half-backs in our team—followed exactly the same method. In fact, there are two essentials to a good game: grammar and style, or grammar and rhythm, ...
... that time we played on the grounds of other clubs whenever we got an opportunity. Very often we used the Military Ground, where Page 295 they are presently building a big stadium. Benjamin was the president of our club and he arranged games on grounds of various clubs. A football team means football matches, so, from time to time, we would play matches with different teams in ...
... (10) W hen the Physical Education Department was set up, in the beginning we did not have much equipment for our physical demonstration programme. We needed some music-records. Benjamin, an old sadhak, said that he knew some people in town who would lend us some records. He requested Mother to allow him to get a gramophone. So we held our physical demonstration programme in ...
... of Life : Essays in Interpretation of Shakespeare's Final Plays (Methuen, London, 1958). Laureate of Peace : on the Genius of Alexander Pope (Roudedge, London, 1954). Kurtz, Benjamin P. The Pursuit of Death (Oxford University Press, London, 1933). Lai, P. & K. Raghavendra RAO. Modern Indo-Anglian Poetry (Kavita, Delhi, 1959). Langley, G .H. Sri Aurobindo: ...
... 398-408,436, 441,460,461 Keats, John 174,313,315,365 Kenner, Hugh 391-393 Knight, G. Wilson 33,410,458 Krishnaprem, Sri (Ronald Nixon) 339,461, 463 Kurtz, Benjamin 306 Lal,P.357 Last Poems 41,458 Lawrence, D.H. 388 Leeuw.J.J.Van Der 334 Lele, Yogi 11,81,327,458 Leopardi 309 Lewis ...
... Learning with the Mother THE RECITATIONS Never put off till tomorrow what can be done the same day. (Benjamin Franklin) *** Each being carries within him the Divine Inhabitant, and if none in the whole universe is as weak as man, none is as divine as he. *** A good deed is sweeter to the heart than a sweet is in the mouth. ...
... *** The path of later on and the road of tomorrow lead only to the castle of nothing-at-all. 30.09.1951 *** Never put off till tomorrow that which you can do today. (Benjamin Franklin) 07.10.1951 *** Violence is never a good means to make a cause triumph. How can one hope to win justice by injustice, harmony by hatred? 14.10.1951 *** ...
... Sundaranand. [ Mother :] I said to ask you if it would be possible . If so, for the noon, it can be boiled with Arjava's, and for the evening, it can be simply fried (without any spice) with Benjamin's. [ Mother :] Yes, it is all right. August 7, 1938 "The whole universe seems to be a cry To the apocalypt vision of thy Name." Damn fine, sir! August 8, 1938 Padmasini ...
... in the leg. But it stopped in the morning. Temperature normal. Otherwise too all right. Is it necessary to visit him once in the morning at 7? Why not? There is a chronic difficulty with Benjamin's phimosis. My dear sir, if you clap a word like that on an illness, do you think it is easy for the patient to recover? A complains of nausea. Worms? Liver? Liver pain better. She says ...
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