... writes Pournaprema, ‘but the circumstances arranged themselves so that they could go to Japan.’ 6 In the First World War Japan was an ally of Great Britain and therefore of Great Britain’s allies, including France. Paul Richard received a commission to promote the export of French products in China and Japan, as the following letter dated 28 February 1916 makes clear: ‘The bearer of this letter... Rabindranath Tagore, who had come to Japan on a lecture tour. Mirra made a fine pencil sketch of him on 11 June, the day he delivered a speech at the Imperial University in Tokyo, ‘The Message of India to Japan.’ Tagore had become world-famous in 1913, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his volume of poetry Gitanjali. ‘I met [Rabindranath Tagore] in Japan. He claimed to have reached the peace... gardens, which are now imitated all over the world. ‘The other day I spoke to you about those landscapes of Japan. Well, almost all – the most beautiful, the most striking ones – I had seen in vision in France, and yet I had not seen any pictures or photographs of Japan, I knew nothing of Japan. And I had seen these landscapes without human beings, nothing but the landscape, quite pure, like that, and ...
... Japanese landscapes. As she explained in the course of a conversation in 1951: ... those landscapes of Japan; well, almost all- the most beautiful, the most striking ones - I had seen in vision in France; and yet I had not seen any pictures or photographs of Japan, I knew nothing of Japan. And I had seen these landscapes without human beings, nothing but the landscape, quite pure, like that... On The Mother CHAPTER 11 A Passage to Japan I The scene shifts from war-torn France to comparatively peaceful Japan. During their year of stay in beleaguered France, Mirra and Richard had their separate roles to play although they also kept in touch with Sri Aurobindo at Pondicherry. Mirra had especially her sadhana to do for ailing and tortured... prayers and meditations. Richard had now to visit Japan on an assignment, but even as in 1910 and 1914, he had combined politics and electioneering with a serious spiritual quest when he visited Pondicherry, now also he hoped and planned to continue his inquiries. The Orient had always fascinated the Richards: India certainly, but also China and Japan. Was Richard interested in observing Zen Buddhism ...
... Tokyo (Japan) 1400 participants from 20 countries 4th Asian Games: 1962 Jakarta (Indonesia) 1500 participants from 20 countries 5th Asian Games: 1966 Bangkok (Thailand) 1945 participants from 18 countries 6th Asian Games: 1970 Bangkok (Thailand) 2000 participants from 18 countries (Burma, Kampuchea, Ceylon, Honking, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Malaysia... Sapporo (Japan) As the Asiad gained recognition as the Olympic of Asia, the desire to develop a winter version of the Asian Games had begun to materialize. With the promotion of winter sports in Asia and the improvement of competitive skills as primary objectives, the inauguration of Winter Asian Games was approved during the OCA General Assembly held in Seoul, Korea in September 1984. Japan was given... Bangladesh, China, Chinese Taipei, Page 324 Honking, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand.) 2nd Asian Winter Games: 1990 Sapporo (Japan) Due to various difficulties, India had to renounce the privilege of hosting the 2nd ...
... correspondence from extremists who have taken refuge in Japan addressed to the refugees in Pondicherry, in particular Aurobindo Ghose.’ Ten years after his withdrawal to Pondicherry, Aurobindo Ghose remained as dreaded as ever. It may have been the harassment by the British authorities that impelled Mirra to write on 20 February, when still in Japan, the following statement: ‘I belong to no nation, no... if such is His will, with complete joy; and nothing in his service can be sacrifice, for all is perfect delight.’ 3 The ‘hellish’ years of tension and struggle in Japan had left their marks. ‘When I came here [from Japan] I was not worth much,’ wrote the Mother, ‘and I did not give myself many months to live.’ Tuberculosis, rheumatism, influenza, filaria and neuritis, a flurrying heart … you... And someone who had seen me before, who had lived with me in Japan and came here, found it difficult to recognize me. He asked me: “But really, is it you?” I said: “Obviously!”’ 16 This visitor was William W. Pearson, a follower of Rabindranath Tagore. Pearson was mentioned by name in the police report about Tagore’s first visit to Japan and suspected of being influenced by the pan-Asian propaganda ...
... can be deceived by her protestations. We must keep her away.' The Congress, on the other hand, viewed Britain and not Japan as India's immediate aggressor. The argument was that if the British left India there would be no danger to her from Japan, because it was Britain who fought Japan and crossed her path. The Madras resolution of Rajaji had generated a feeling of resentment throughout the... Britain and not with India; (4) if Japan invaded India, it would meet with non-violent resistance; and (5) the stationing of foreign soldiers, including American, on Indian soil was a grave menace to Indian freedom. Nehru, according to the minutes of the meeting of the Congress Working Committee, opposed these views: If we said to Japan that her fight was with British Imperialism... this objection, Nehru retorted: "You can't stop Japan by non-violent non-cooperation. The Japanese armies will make India a battleground and go to Iraq, Persia and throttle China and make the Russian situation more difficult. The British will refuse our demand [to quit] for military reasons apart from others. They cannot allow India to be used by Japan against them. They will treat India as an enemy ...
... but few friends. In the War and immediate post-war years (1916-20), Japan was still on the rising tide of her prosperity and influence. Japan was an ally of Great Britain, and fought on the side of the Allies against Germany and Austria. There was a visible British presence in Japan during the War, and after the Allied victory, Japan was one of the Big Five of the world. The Japanese Page 172 ... at Kyoto, were the foci of Mirra's orbit of human relationships In Japan, and what she gave them or received from them cannot be put into words, for it was more of a fellowship in spiritual faith. With some of the Indians in Japan, like Rash Behari Bose, there grew an acquaintanceship; and when Rabindranath Tagore visited Japan and was widely welcomed as the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize... Kobayashis at their residence, and waved an affectionate farewell. V During the later part of her stay in Japan, Mirra was asked to speak to a group of women, and this talk in English, happily preserved, was published fifty years later in 1967 as "Talk to the Women of Japan". * Mirra's theme was the bringing up of children, and her audience was made up of mothers, or potential mothers ...
... about what Japan was, and what Japan is; and I don't know what Japan will be in future; but, I think, speaking from a few of my experiences, that this is a good sign because you must break your strict moral rules in order to be spiritual, and they are passing through this change, this transition. That is my way of looking at things, my personal opinion. Anyhow, this is what Japan is. Now... 89 Katha Upanishad, II/l, shlokas 12 and 13. SABCL, 12: 256. Page 53 on this subject of Japan. Very interesting, and the comments are somewhat similar to Mother's. Yes, I start from the relevant portion [Readingfrom Talks with Sri Aurobindo, 45]: Japan, at one time, had an ideal. The power of the Japanese for self-sacrifice, patriotism, self-abnegation and silence... have on the cards. My memory is short, it betrays me; therefore I have to keep a little bit of a record to refresh my memory. Yes, last week, you remember, I read out to you a talk by Mother, on Japan. Showering high praise on the Japanese for their love of beauty, which you have seen already many times on the cinema screen, She came to the subject of their moral life which, She said, if you remember ...
... France, finding enough strength to take care of the wounded. Then, Paul Richard managed to get himself demobilised and sent to Japan. In Japan, Mother passed through mortal illnesses during her four years' stay. She took upon her body the first wartime epidemic of Japan, ___________________________ ¹ Sri Aurobindo, Supplement, Centenary Library, Vol. 27, p. 434. ² In due course... Page 60 at his Santiniketan in Bengal. But Mother had already something else in view. During her stay in Japan, Mother also tried to put a little consciousness into the men and women of Japan, and something of this effort we can see in the talk that she gave to the women of Japan. She had remarked: That the superman shall be born of women is a great indisputable truth!... The true domain of... a few days I was completely cured; even immediately, I was almost cured....¹ During the sojourn in Japan, she had tuberculosis, which was cured only after her return to Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry. In passing, it may be mentioned that Rabindranath Tagore, who also happened to be in Japan at that time, came to know Mother, and struck by the clarity of her vision, he invited her to come and ...
... England help—if the Governor asks—against Japan? SRI AUROBINDO: Can't say. England can help only with her navy. She has no troops there. Japan will attack overland. But if Japan attacks Indo-China, it will be the last straw on America's back. America won't tolerate Japan in the Pacific, just as during the Dutch East Indies question. NIRODBARAN: Japan may have a shot at Pondicherry too. SRI... to pass through Singapore, Malacca, etc. India will then be between Japan, Germany and Russia. SATYENDRA: Russia? Russia is far away and doesn't show any intention. SRI AUROBINDO: Russia is always silent before she acts. Nobody knows what is in Russia's mind until the last moment. The same with Japan. It is only now that Japan talks about her aims and objects. NIRODBARAN: Hitler is repeating... preach very long. He will be given a passport to heaven. (After some time) Japan, is not marching to Indo-China yet. She has appealed to the Axis powers to preserve the status quo there. PURANI: Yes, but if France accepts peace, then Japan may grab it. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, of course. It has been a long-standing aim of Japan to drive out the Europeans from the Far East. If she can do that and come ...
... CHAPTER 13 Tea, Flowers and Flu I Once in the course of her stay in Japan, Mirra had an illness, extremely painful at first, though it didn't fail to provide some rich compensations as well. It was in January 1919 in Tokyo when the terrible influenza epidemic was raging all over Japan. After the attack, the patient usually died on the third day; if luckily he didn't, at the end... t tapestry of the Future, the Richards left Pondicherry for France, and then France for Japan, and stayed there till after the Peace of Versailles had been signed. What was Japan's role in the epic of Mirra's manifestation and ministry? What did she hope for? What was the nature of her experiences in Japan? What were the real gains of the visit? IV Ever since her years of 'discretion'... Europeans. In Japan I have met some who were Indian, others who were European. 8 The accident of birth should neither make for slavery to something local, tmporal or transient, nor prevent a conscious choice on the basis of a new inner freedom won through a psychic or spiritual opening. Neither blind acceptance nor blind rejection is the way of wisdom. Coming to Japan, Mira found a ...
... of Japan, 1917 × A Talk to the Women of Japan, 1917 × Unpublished × A Talk to the Women of Japan, 1917... would understand everything. The world is a perpetual, obvious miracle. And perhaps evolution is the slow uncovering of what is obvious. Four years in Japan. Two mortal illnesses. Matter was definitely being “churned." The photographs taken in Japan show her very pale, always dressed in a kimono—for Mother is the one who belonged to all nations —but with two small lines at the corners of her mouth... domain of women is spiritual. We forget it too often. 19 Even Tagore, who was passing through Japan, was struck by Mothers clarity of vision and invited her to organize the education in his ashram at Shantiniketan—but what interested her was the Ashram of the world. In her “Talk to the Women of Japan,” She announced in prophetic terms the coming of Sri Aurobindo and the signs by which one can recognize ...
... market. The Western countries, the Netherlands, America and Russia in particular, were applying a lot of pressure on Japan with their military and economic might. At that time Tokugowa was ruling Japan. The American commodore Mathew C. Parry came with a naval squadron and threatened Japan. He threatened he would return the following year and attack. Being helpless the Tokugowa government opened their... was to make them conscious of their lower limbs. The Mother once said while chatting that before the World War Japan had never lost to the British or the Americans. I said: "No, Mother, I've read in history that at one time in the field of economics and social production Japan became very weak. They had no commercial links with any country abroad. Except for some Dutch and Chinese traders nobody... business and in 1854 it signed a peace treaty. They had agreed to signing this peace treaty out of fear that like China Japan too would otherwise become some sort of a Russian or American colony. . I told the Mother all this but She just would not accept. She was a great admirer of Japan, you see. Page 123 The next day I took some books from our Ashram historian Sisir-da to show the ...
... — he left for Japan in 1920 to study Zen Buddhism. ‘I knew — yes, I knew, for it was a certainty to me — that my life would be a life of spiritual realization, that nothing else counted for me, and that somewhere on earth, and I mean effectively on earth, there had to be someone who could give me … who could lead me towards the light.’ 93 Paul and Mirra Richard had left Japan a few months before... We strongly suspect that he was relating his own experiences in the laboratories of Japan, before he went on his way to the monasteries of the lamas in Mongolia and afterwards to India.’ The journey to Mongolia, in the company of a Mongolian lama who taught him his language, took place in 1924. ‘And so I left [Japan]. We had to cross northern China to reach the monastery where only Tibetan lamas were... Savitri They knew that their reunification — which would prove to be definitive — meant that the promise given to mankind at its origin would now at last be fulfilled, thanks to them. Mirra in Japan, 1916 Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry, ca. 1918-1920 Her return to Pondicherry was ‘the tangible sign of the Victory over the hostile forces,’ the Mother would later write about herself ...
... assignment in Japan. Mirra decided to accompany him and on March 13, 1916, they set sail from London. The Mother was to stay in Japan for the next four years. Here it will not be possible to dwell on her many experiences in Japan and I shall merely mention that they were a perfect preparation for the great work ahead of her on her return to India. Incidentally, when Rabindranath Tagore visited Japan in 1919... Shantiniketan and take charge of the institution. The Mother could not accept the offer as she knew that although her field of work was India, the centre was not Shantiniketan. Before leaving for Japan, the Mother had sent some funds for the purpose of starting the 'Aryan Stores' to be managed by Saurin. It was expected to provide a modest income for Sri Aurobindo's household. The store was opened... naturally, we have to fight them. Whenever they see that you are trying to oust them they will try to thwart your efforts. You have to bring a higher power than these and put them down.' After reaching Japan it seems that the Mother wrote to Sri Aurobindo mentioning some difficulties or recoils in a particular phase of her sadhana. In a long reply dated June 26, 1916, Sri Aurobindo explained the special ...
... Mother here. "From Japan" -I found it very beautiful indeed, so if you allow me, I would like to read the last article by the Mother on Japan. Many of you know about it, have seen in your films, have heard the talk from the Mother, about how She spent quite a number of years there and became very fond of the country. I don't know whether She will be so fond of it today, because Japan has undergone much... art of Japan is a kind of directly mental expression in physical life. The Japanese use the vital world very little. Their art is extremely mentalised; their life is extremely mentalised. It expresses in detail quite precise mental formations. Only in the physical, they have spontaneously the sense of beauty. For example, a thing one sees very rarely in Europe but constantly, daily in Japan: very simple... It is just there where it should be hidden under the trees; then you see a creeper and suddenly a wonderful tree: it is there at the right place, it has the right form. I had everything to learn in Japan. For four years, from an artistic point of view, I lived from wonder Page 50 to wonder. And in the cities, a city like Tokyo, for example, which is the biggest ...
... instantaneously recognised in Sri Aurobindo "the Lord of my being and my God"; and now, after an absence of five years in France and Japan, she was coming back to Pondicherry. She was leaving behind in Japan her good friends - the Kobayashis, the Okhawas, and others - and Japan meant the kindliest memories. But the boat was carrying her towards the shores of India, and she was sublimely content. And on 24... There is a divinity indeed that shapes our ends, and answering its veiled dictates, Mirra and Paul Richard as also Dorothy Hodgson finally decided to leave Japan for Pondicherry in the early months of 1920. For Mirra, the four years in Japan had on the whole been a period of quietude and sadhana, a time for perfection in minutiae, a season for the cultivation of the integral as well as the miniature;... and after, the differences between Mirra and Richard with regard to the direction, pace and means of their movements, which were endemic all the time, surfaced disagreeably during their last year 10 Japan, and began to acquire clearer definition after the return to Pondicherry. For Mirra, the return meant the climactic decision of her life: she was in Pondicherry for good, and Sri Aurobindo was the ...
... five months' of humiliating retreat and terrific loss of men and territory, Russia counter-attacked on 6 December with astonishing success. On 7 December, Japan bombed Pearl Harbour, and on 11 December Hitler declared war against America. Japan also turned against the British, French and Dutch possessions Page 703 in the Far East, bombed Calcutta, Visakhapatnam and Madras, and extended... and think and judge by these clearly discernible trends. During the latter half of 1940, Hitler and Mussolini extended willy-nilly the theatre of the war to the Balkans and North Africa. Japan was also wooed to throw in her lot with the Axis Powers, but she held back for the time being. Then, on 21 June 1941, Germany attacked Russia on a wide front, and made rapid progress and won sensational... as Sri Aurobindo actively concerned himself with the war in Europe when he realised in April-May 1940 that Hitlerism was trying to overwhelm the forces of freedom, he felt equally concerned when Japan made the perfidious attack on Pearl Harbour and turned against India and South-East Asia. Even before Hitler's attack on Russia, the Mother with Sri Aurobindo's authority had declared on 6 May 1941: ...
... Words of Long Ago Impressions of Japan You ask me for my impressions about Japan. To write on Japan is a difficult task; so many things have been already written, so many silly things also... but these more on the people than on their country. For the country is so wonderful, picturesque, many-sided, unexpected, charming, wild or sweet; it is in its appearance... have been given of Japan; I shall not then attempt to add mine, which would certainly be far less interesting. But the people of Japan have, in general, been misunderstood and misinterpreted, and on that subject something worth saying remains to be said. In most cases foreigners come in touch with that part of the Japanese people which has been spoiled by foreigners,—a Japan of money-makers and... things which make the West hateful. If we judge Japan by her statesmen, her politicians and her businessmen, we shall find her a country very much like one of the Powers of Europe, though she possesses the vitality and concentrated energies of a nation which has not yet reached its zenith. That energy is one of the most interesting features of Japan. It is visible everywhere, in everyone; the old ...
... continents etc. You are absolutely right, but Japan is still different from the others. It is not a single land mass like America or India. Japan is an island; actually it is a group of small islands formed very close to each other in the middle of the sea. If you see the World map, in comparison to Japan, both India and America are large countries. Naturally Japan has a much smaller population than either... know a little more of the Japanese uniqueness. I have heard this from Pavitra. He was in Japan in the year 1923 and had personally witnessed this. Once all the volcanoes erupted together. Japan had not known so much destruction and devastation earlier. The tremors of the earthquakes were felt world wide and Japan had lost more than 50% of its people. In a period of quietness between the volcanic eruptions... would be a happier place to live in. Japanese Folklore Before reading my story ‘Japanese Folklore’ in the class, The Mother spoke about Japan where She had spent several years. The Mother: Suppose today someone asks you “What do you mean by Japan?” what would your reaction be? Wouldn’t you be surprised? Wouldn’t you be thinking, “How ignorant is this person? What kind of a question is this ...
... period. In Japan the dominant Japanese type had been moulded by the shaping processes of an admirable culture and when the Western impact came, Japan remained faithful to her ancient spirit; she merely took over certain forms of European social & political organization necessary to complete her culture under modern conditions and poured into these forms the old potent dynamic spirit of Japan, the spirit... its great possibilities. It is commonly said that this is because Japan has assimilated Western Science and organization and even in many respects excelled its teachers; India has failed in this all-important task of assimilation. If we go a step farther back and insist on asking why this is so, we shall be told it is because Japan has "reformed" herself and got rid of ideas & institutions unsuited... and the Samurai Two oriental nations have come powerfully under the influence of Western ideas and felt the impact of European civilization during the nineteenth century, India and Japan. The results have been very different. The smaller nation has become one of the mightiest Powers in the modern world, the larger in spite of far greater potential strength, a more original culture, ...
... at the news of Hitler's victories and some would have even welcomed Japan into our homeland, but they forgot the cruelty and inhumanity those nations are capable of. What Hitler did to Europe would have happened to India if he had ever taken over our country." "But Japan is Asiatic, she is one of us. Many believe that if Japan had come to India, she would have helped us to win our freedom and to... Sarojini. Nowadays travelling to England is a commonplace affair. Even here, sitting in the small town of Pondicherry, you get to know about the whole world, you can see Europe, America, China and Japan and all the rest in pictures and films. In the Ashram itself you can meet and make friends with people from all over the world." "That's true. But I wonder why certain people sometimes scare me."... never been a very strong bond of brotherhood. The sense of oneness in a family, the very great closeness of blood-ties, all this is very often found in the east, in India, Page 79 China, Japan. But it does not easily flower in the individualistic society of England. Perhaps Manomohan, being a poet, may have been sufficiently carried away to have written about fraternal sentiments. And as ...
... Chinese because they may be needed as a counterbalance against Germany and Russia when, in case England goes down, they try to come to Asia … Out of the three evils, [Japan] may be the best and I don’t think she will annex India … [Japan] won’t like the ‘barbarians’ taking possession of Asia.” 1169 The second reason was spiritual: the religious-minded Japanese would tolerate an institution like the Sri... bullies now. It is the new spirit of the Nazis and Fascists which they have got from the West.” 1168 Still Sri Aurobindo, observing the simultaneous advance towards India by Germany from the west and Japan from the east, together with the age-old Russian threat to the country, would have preferred India to come under Japanese domination. His arguments were twofold. Firstly: “I don’t want the Japanese... the latter said to the interpreter: “Tell his Excellency that I have been in politics all my life and that I don’t need any advice from any side.” Thereupon Hitler suggested that Bose try his luck in Japan. And so it happened that S.C. Bose undertook another adventurous journey, this time by U-boat to Tokyo; he transshipped from a German unto a Japanese submarine in the middle of the Indian Ocean. ...
... formula has the obvious or at least the specious advantage that it brings in America and Japan and thus recognises all the actually free or dominant nations in the circle of the proposed solidarity and holds out too the hope of admission into the circle to others whenever they can prove, after the forceful manner of Japan or otherwise, that they too have come up to the European standard. Indeed, though... beginning of the war, has not yet been made practicable and, if it were effected, there would still remain the whole of Asia and Africa as a field for the imperialistic ambitions of the Western nations and Japan. The disinterestedness that led a majority in America to decree the liberation of the Philippines and restrained the desire to take advantage of the troubles of Mexico is not possible to the mentality... the ideal of all enlightened minds must be not to be good patriots but good Europeans. But immediately the question arose, what then of the increasing importance of America in world politics, what of Japan and China, what of the renewed stirrings of life in Asia? The writer had therefore to draw back from his first formula and to explain that by Europe he meant not Europe but all nations that had accepted ...
... founded by the Prince Gautama Siddhartha Buddha who was born in north-eastern India around 560 BC, has profoundly affected the martial systems of all countries where the two have met, be it in China, Japan, India or South East Asia. It was therefore during the latter half of the first millennium BC that the philosophies upon which the martial arts depend were first laid down. Although some arts may... believed to have evolved from Shaolin Temple boxing. The complete martial arts systems, consisting of ideology plus practice or technique, were exported beyond the borders of China and India to Korea, Japan and South East Asia. These countries must have had their own fighting arts, but as the superior techniques and advanced ideas from abroad were absorbed by their fighters, they were changed, and... Chinese culture, learned the lessons of the ancient masters most thoroughly early in their history. On the basis of Chinese techniques, the Japanese slowly evolved their own martial arts forms. Now, Japan is the richest country in Asia, both in the variety of martial arts and in the numbers practising as a proportion of the population. Page 641 The Western view of the East In the ...
... French should get whatever they can, Japan is not like Hitler. She can wait patiently, but she never gives up her policy. When the right time comes she will strike. SATYENDRA: She has recognised the Bordeaux Government, SRI AUROBINDO: Of course. The Bordeaux Government had accepted Japan's demand not to send arms to China through Indo-China. NIRODBARAN: But Japan intends to occupy it, it seems,... unless America comes in. SRI AUROBINDO: America can't do anything because Japan will come by land. In the Dutch Indies America could have intervened with her fleet. That is why Japan kept quiet. NIRODBARAN: Britain is now all alone; she hasn't replied to the Japanese note yet. SRI AUROBINDO: All my life I have wanted the downfall of the British Empire, but the way it is being done is beyond... Apocalypse there is a prophecy that before the millennium when the anti-Christ will come everybody will believe in his sweet words and be deceived and no one will judge him by his acts. SATYENDRA: Japan also is turning Fascist. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, she has asked for "hands off the East" and is trying to adopt an Eastern Monroe Doctrine. But that has been her well-established policy for thirty or ...
... SATYENDRA: Will Indo-China be able to resist Japan? PURANI: At least the French there will be able to give a good account of themselves. SRI AUROBINDO: It won't be a promenade for Japan. NIRODBARAN: Besides, if Indo-China makes an alliance with Britain, Britain will have to go to her help. That means war with Japan. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. Will Japan undertake all that with Russia and China at... at her back? PURANI: The Pétain Government may ask Japan to occupy Indo-China. SRI AUROBINDO: That will be too much. They will be shot in that case or bound. NIRODBARAN: But if Hitler presses? SRI AUROBINDO: Even so they can't. They have been able to save face by saying that they have saved France from destruction by the armistice with Hitler, but to allow foreigners to kill the French people ...
... showed me round and told me many fascinating things about Japan. When the Mother came finally to stay with Sri Aurobindo, on April 24, 1920, she brought with her many things she had used in Japan. The display was arranged in four rooms. The first showed the country, the second its art and culture, the third the contrast between the Japan of 1919 and the new one of 1955, and the fourth room was... Air a robe of splendour, breath a joy, life a godlike game. Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems: A Strong Son of Lightning In the afternoon the Mother visited Golconde to see an exhibition on Japan. It was raining—the sky was emptying itself without restraint. The roads were rivers, and the earth smelt fresh. In the evening the Mother was occupied as on other Darshan days. The rain interfered... Japanese painting were also displayed. And there were all sorts of beautiful objects: Japanese crockery, tapestries, the Mother's hand-written scripts in Japanese.... In brief, they created a miniature Japan in Golconde. ...
... s in the English language. "Impressions of Japan", dated 9 July 1915, was written in Akakura and published in the form reproduced here in the Modern Review (Calcutta) in January 1918. "The Children of Japan", an incomplete letter, was written shortly after "Impressions of Japan". "Myself and My Creed" was written in February 1920. "To the Women of Japan" is undated. It exists in several versions... 1947. Some revisions, made by the Mother for this publication, have been included in the present text. A greater portion of the talk was published as "Talk to the Women of Japan" in 1967. The last part of "To the Women of Japan" incorporated passages from Sri Aurobindo’s Human Cycle , Synthesis of Yoga , etc. The pieces in this part were published together in English in 1978 as Part 6 of Words of... Part 5 of Words of Long Ago . The original French texts were first brought out in 1983 as Part 5 of Paroles d’autrefois . Part 6. The letters, essays, etc. comprising this part were written in Japan between 1916 and 1920. "Woman and the War", written originally in French, was published in an English translation seen and revised by the Mother, in the Fujoshimbun on 7 July 1916. "Woman and Man" ...
... attitude, and its use has even been compared to what was done in the Nazi concentration camps, Hitler's holocaust of six million Jews. In the East one has also heard that it was tried out against Japan because Japan is an oriental country: the suggestion is that it would never have been dropped on Western people. May I briefly set right the main misconceptions? Einstein's famous letter to Roosevelt... Mountbatten. What gives further suggestiveness to the choice is that Mountbatten picked out August 15 because two years earlier that date had seen the end of World War II with the surrender of Japan to him, the war which Sri Aurobindo had singled out as a crucial confrontation between forces controlled from behind the scene by preternatural anti-divine beings and those which, for all their defects... with the Mother, declared that fundamentally this war was theirs and not merely a conflict of the Western democracies with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy and, towards the concluding period, militarist Japan. For the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother was for a new spiritualised earth building dynamically a greater beauty of the visible and the concrete, a tangible progressive embodiment of the Divine ...
... all my bridges and cast myself headlong into the Unknown....' - Feb 28 Richard is commissioned by some business houses in France to represent them in Japan. - Mar 4-11 Crosses the channel from Boulogne to London. Departs for Japan aboard the Kamo Maru that will go round the Cape as the Suez is closed due to war. - Apr 6 Kamo Maru at Table Bay. Visits Capetown. - May 9-10... Meets a man who learned to walk about under the hottest sun without suffering any ill-effects. - May 18 Kamo Maru arrives in Yokohama, Japan. 'For four years, from an artistic point of view, I lived from wonder to wonder.' 'Beauty rules over Japan as an uncontestable master'; Japanese art teaches 'the unity of art with life'. 1916-1917 Stays for a year in Tokyo with Dr. Okhawa Shumei... Shumei, a Zen practitioner and an active sympathiser with the Indian freedom movement. Shumei: 'We sat together in meditation every night for an hour.' Gives the talk 'To the Women of Japan'. Meets one of Tolstoy's sons, then on a tour to promote world unity through uniformity of dress, language, life style etc. Tells him, 'It would be a poor world, not worth living in.' Meets Rabindranath Tagore ...
... Paris, you were three or four years old." She had measles a second time, in Japan. But Japan is another story. We shall come to that later. Let us simply say for now that her body had lived through terrible tensions and serious illnesses during her four years' stay in Japan. "When I came here [to Pondicherry from Japan in 1920] I was not worth much," wrote Mother, "and did not give myself many... through their colonies, had spread India's arts and epics and creeds in the Archipelago (the Aegean Page 40 Sea), so now the message of Buddha which Asoka sent conquered China and Japan and spread westward as far as Palestine and Alexandria, and the figures of the Upanishads and the sayings of the Buddhists were re-echoed on the lips of Christ. Pataliputra has played an important... us recall that the Belgian was a student of Rodin's. In 1927 was invited Nara Singhlal Mistri, a Jaipuri mural technician. In the meantime, in the Poet's company, Nandalal had visited Burma, China, Japan, Java, Bali, etc. During his travels, he picked up, among other things, the art of batik. Not only did he indianize it but he greatly simplified the traditional onerous process. During the tenure ...
... a primitive morality. That this half-civilised continent contains peoples as capable of self-government as any European race is a thing which they cannot persuade themselves to believe, Japan notwithstanding. Japan has shown that Asiatic civilisation is equal and in some important respects superior to European, needing only to be modernised and equipped with the mental and material processes invented... reference to a great and living civilization like the civilizations of China, Japan and India which have understood and practised organization and self-adaptation to surrounding circumstances for thousands of years and have developed a highly intellectual and ingenious people quick to understand, to imitate and to improve. Japan has reorganized herself without the blessings of foreign rule, China is doing... in organising society and politics under old conditions can be diverted with admirable results to the reorganisation of society and politics under modern conditions. But to minds of the Morley type Japan only presents itself as a freak or an inexplicable exception. The world of Liberalism and enlightenment to which alone liberal philosophy is applicable and in which alone liberal institutions can flourish ...
... parties and party struggle become inevitable. The men of peace and unity are never weary of throwing Japan and England in our faces; but they seem not to have read the history of the countries which they offer us as our examples. Have they never heard of the struggle between Federalists and Imperialists in Japan or of the civil strife between Federalists and Unionists which preceded and made the way clear... slaughter. And what was the point at issue? Simply, whether Shogun or Mikado should be leader and sovereign in Japan. Our wise men would have advised the Japanese to give up their differences and work together under the Shogun because he was "the recognised leader"; but the patriots of Japan knew that the question of Shogun or Mikado involved vital issues which must be settled at any cost; so with one ...
... with western ideas, look askance at any return to the old sources of energy may well consider a few fundamental facts. THE EXAMPLE OF JAPAN. I. There is no instance in history of a more marvellous and sudden up-surging of strength in a nation than modern Japan. All sorts of theories had been started to account for the uprising, Page 85 but now intellectual Japanese are telling us what... Asuras, Devas are leaping forth into the arena of the world. We have seen the slow but mighty rise of great empires in the West, we have seen the swift, irresistible and impetuous bounding into life of Japan. Some are Mleccha Shaktis clouded in their strength, black or blood-crimson with tamas or rajas , others are Arya Shaktis, bathed in a pure flame of renunciation and utter self-sacrifice: but all... awakening, the sources of that inexhaustible strength. They were drawn from religion. It was the Vedantic teachings of Oyomei and the recovery of Shintoism with its worship of the national Shakti of Japan in the image and person of the Mikado that enabled the little island empire to wield the stupendous weapons of western knowledge and science as lightly and invincibly as Arjun wielded the Gandiv. ...
... back to France for a while and then sailed for Japan. In Japan she came into contact with Tagore. Tagore had the habit of meditating every morning at a fixed hour. The Mother once told us: "I could follow him in his meditation and know exactly what was happening. On the mind-level he used to get a touch of Sat-chit-Ananda." The Mother left Japan in 1920 and came to join Sri Aurobindo. Several... To some extent the reason may be that she was in a sari, a costume in which the Bengali poet had never before seen her. Another cause must be the fact that in the eight years since her stay in Japan she had grown in spiritual stature and could manifest a greater divine Presence. A few years after Tagore's interview the Mother's body again suffered — now a much more serious illness as a ...
... Ago The Children of Japan In my last letter 1 I spoke of the sense of duty which gave to the Japanese people a great self-constraint, but no joyful and free expansion. I must make an exception to this rule and this exception is in favour of the children. We could quite well call Japan the paradise of children—in no other country have I seen them... them so free and so happy. After months of residence in Japan I have yet never seen a child beaten by a grown-up person. They are treated as if all the parents were conscious that the children are the promise and the glory of the future. And a wonderful thing is that, environed by so much attention, so much care,—indeed, such a devotion, they are the most reasonable, good and serious children I have ever... are treated is a country still ascending the steps of progress and of mastery. Page 156 × "Impressions of Japan". × Traditional wide-sleeved gown. ...
... may happen): one sees ahead what one will see later. The other day I spoke to you about those landscapes of Japan; well, almost all—the most beautiful, the most striking ones—I had seen in vision in France; and yet I had not seen any pictures or photographs of Japan, I knew nothing of Japan. And I had seen these landscapes without human beings, nothing but the landscape, quite pure, like that, and... could go on climbing, climbing, climbing.... It had struck me, and the first time I saw this in Nature down there, I understood that I had already seen it in France before having known anything about Japan. There are always many explanations possible and it is very difficult to explain for someone else. For oneself, if one has studied very carefully one's dreams and activities of the night, one can ...
... art of Japan is a kind of directly mental expression in physical life. The Japanese use the vital world very little. Their art is extremely mentalised; their life is extremely mentalised. It expresses in detail quite precise mental formations. Only, in the physical, they have spontaneously the sense of beauty. For example, a thing one sees very rarely in Europe but constantly, daily in Japan: very simple... It is just there where it should be, hidden under the trees; then you see a creeper and suddenly a wonderful tree: it is there at the right place, it has the right form. I had everything to learn in Japan. For four years, from an artistic point of view, I lived from wonder to wonder. And in the cities, a city like Tokyo, for example, which is the biggest city in the world, bigger than London, and... And some days later you want to come back to this very place, but it is impossible, it is as though it had disappeared. And this is so frequent, this is so true that such stories are often told in Japan. Their literature is full of fairy-lore. They tell you a story in which the hero comes suddenly to an enchanted place: he sees fairies, he sees marvellous beings, he spends exquisite hours among flowers ...
... story. I do not know whether I have already told it to you, but I am going to tell you now for it will give you an illustration. I was in Japan. It was at the beginning of January 1919. Anyway, it was the time when a terrible flu raged there in the whole of Japan, which killed hundreds of thousands of people. It was one of those epidemics the like of which is rarely seen. In Tokyo, every day there were... third day, at the end of Page 180 seven days one was altogether cured; a little exhausted but all the same completely cured. There was a panic in the town, for epidemics are very rare in Japan. They are a very clean people, very careful and with a fine morale. Illnesses are very rare. But still this came, it came as a catastrophe. There was a terrible fear. For example, people were seen walking... papers. Well, consciousness, to be sure, is more effective than doctor's pills!... The condition was critical. Just imagine, there were entire villages where everyone had died. There was a village in Japan, not very big, but still with more than a hundred people, and it happened, by some extraordinary stroke of luck, that one of the villagers was to receive a letter (the postman went there only if there ...
... no plan of ideas, no plan of development, nothing; simply a story. For example, the importance of the departure 2 : how he was present the whole time I was away; how he guided my entire life in Japan; how.... Of course, it would be seen in the mirror of my own experience, but it would be Sri Aurobindo—not me, not my reactions: him; but through my experience because that's all I can speak of. ... had taken on the conversion of the Lord of Falsehood: I tried to do it through an emanation incarnated in a physical being [Richard] 7 , and the greatest effort was made during those four years in Japan. The four years were coming to an end with an absolute inner certainty that there was nothing to be done—that it was impossible, impossible to do it this way. There was nothing to be done. And I was... of straw and offered me. Not a word, nothing else, only that. Then everything vanished. The next day we began preparing to return to India. It was after this vision, when I returned from Japan, that this meeting with Sri Aurobindo took place, along with the certainty that the Mission would be accomplished. ( silence ) This can all be narrated in a very simple way; these things are not ...
... quick. By the third day the legs and Achilles tendons begin to throb, and after a week they are painfully swollen. Cuts and sores become infected, and monks who were raised in the southern part of Japan often develop frostbite. Most monks run a slight fever the first few weeks, suffer from diarrhoea and haemorrhoids, and experience terrible pains in their backs and hips. By the 30th day, Page 609... automatic graduation. Sakai did so, and ' in 1944, he was assigned to a naval base in Kagoshima, Japan's southernmost island — an area exposed to the full wrath of the American air force. By that time Japan had lost the war for all practical purposes, and few of the pilots in Sakai's division returned from their futile sorties. : American bombers from Okinawa began raiding Sakai's base, raking it daily... runways, they would be attacked again. The death of his comrades and the futility of war anguished the young soldier: "Why have so many fine men perished while a no, account like me remains alive?" Japan surrendered in August 1945; the men at Sakai's base were told that the war effort had been "suspended" and they were all to return home. The transportation system , had been largely destroyed, and ...
... encephalitis. On his recovery, he took up judo. The need for a change of air, to rediscover nature, cultivate the land and above all to strengthen his body, persuaded him to move to the north of Japan, to the island of Hokkaido. He was then 27. A year later, a meeting took place which was to alter the course of his life. The origin of aiki-do and the cost of learning This was a meeting... Ueshiba Morihei, 1961 endurance tests, chained him up and tortured him. A forceful intervention on the part of the Japanese saved the whole troop just in time. Their return to Japan was greeted as a national event. As for Ueshiba Morihei, he returned to his remote house at Ayabe. The awakening of a Sixth Sense and the heart of the universe It was during this journey... Tokyo, and began to teach aiki-do. Those who were fortunate enough to be admitted as pupils cultivated the land and served the master with total devotion. The greatest masters of martial arts in Japan went to Iwama. Amongst them. Master Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo, who later sent Master Ueshiba a number of his pupils. To be allowed into, the dojo merely as a spectator was in itself a great privilege ...
... against the Divine. The end of Hitler must come. Sri Aurobindo remarked: "That doesn't mean by the Allies.... If England goes down, there won't be any country left independent except Russia, Germany, Japan and Italy. I am talking of the old world. I think the next conflict will be between Russia and Germany. If Russia finds that England is in a difficult position, then Stalin will put pressure on Turkey... "The events that followed in India right up to now need no mention. We have been paying all along for our mistake." The next issue, if not so great in magnitude, was the Japanese aggression. Japan, like a minor Hitler, had established its supremacy in the East. But Sri Aurobindo had never taken Japan's aggression very seriously. On the contrary, he once remarked that should Hitler become supreme... as did Hitler's. But it was only when Japan's design on India, aided by some of our misguided patriots, was palpably clear, that Sri Aurobindo, as he himself avowed, used his spiritual Force against Japan and "had the satisfaction of seeing the tide of Japanese victory which had till then swept everything before it, change immediately into a tide of rapid, crushing and finally immense and overwhelming ...
... ideas, look askance at any return to the old sources of energy, may well consider a few fundamental facts. The Example of Japan I. There is no instance in history of a more marvellous and sudden up-surging of strength in a nation than modern Japan. All sorts of theories had been started to account for the uprising, but now intellectual Japanese are telling us what were the fountains... Devas are leaping forth into the arena of the world. We have seen the slow but mighty rise of great empires in the West, we have seen the swift, irresistible and impetuous bounding into life of Japan. Some are Mlechchha Shaktis clouded in their strength, black or blood-crimson with Tamas or Rajas, others are Arya Shaktis, bathed in a pure flame of renunciation and utter self-sacrifice: but... awakening, the sources of that inexhaustible strength. They were drawn from religion. It was the Vedantic teachings of Oyomei and the recovery of Shintoism with its worship of the national Shakti of Japan in the image and person of the Mikado that enabled the little island empire to wield the stupendous weapons of Western knowledge and science as lightly and invincibly as Arjun wielded the Gandiv ...
... any kind is allowed by the Nazis. In that case how are you going to awaken the national sentiment? DR. RAO: Even if Hitler wins, there is Japan who will resist him in the East. SRI AUROBINDO: But is Japan powerful enough to do that? It is true that Japan wants to drive out all Europeans from Asia. She can have enough power for that only if she is master of the Far East including China. DR.... Russia do? Hitler has a sufficient army to fight on two fronts while England can hardly spare her troops. PURANI: Japan is trying to be original: she says she wants peace with America. The three-Power pact is not against America! (Laughter) SRI AUROBINDO: I don't see how Japan can fight England and America when all her war supplies come from them. That is also why Spain can't join Germany. ...
... what I wanted to do in Bengal. Turks are a silent race. Disciple : What do you think of the China-Japan war? Sri Aurobindo : I don't think much of either party. They are like six and half-a-dozen. Both too much materialistic. But if I had to choose; I would side with Japan. Japan at one time had an ideal. Their powers of self-sacrifice, patriotism, self-abnegation and silence are ... two million people are Buddhists and there is nothing of Buddhism in what they follow. Mother : Nothing or something of Buddhism? Disciple : Something. Mother : In China and Japan also no Buddhism is left. Only ceremonies remain. In Ceylon they say there is still some authentic Buddhism. Disciple : In Burma also the same is the case. There, people put on ochre clothes... would never lose temper in front of anybody. If his honour is injured he would stab, but he must not lose self-control. They can work so silently and secretly that no one knew anything before the Russo-Japan war broke out, how they had prepared themselves. All on a sudden they broke out into war. They are Kshatriyas and their aesthetic sense is of course well known. But the European influence has spoiled ...
... North is an orgy of gods! It is true that these are former Buddhas, but still they are turned into gods. And it is this latter that has spread into China and from China gone to Japan. So, one enters a Buddhist temple in Japan and sees... There is a temple where there were more than a thousand Buddhas, all sculptured—a thousand figures seated around the central Buddha—they were there all around, the... me, I believe that all those who produce something artistic are artists! A word depends upon the way it is used, upon what one puts into it. One may put into it all that one wants. For instance, in Japan there are gardeners who spend their time correcting the forms of trees so that in the landscape they make a beautiful picture. By all kinds of trimmings, props, etc. they adjust the forms of trees.... but from that side. He was a Gujarati. I believe he spoke Gujarati. Page 328 And then the other version, I heard that from... that man was called Shastri. He was another pandit. He was in Japan. There we are, then. Is that all? No questions? You... Be quick, it is late. In one of your writings you have said that beauty is universal and that one must be universal in order to see and ...
... distant America but the centre of disturbance was Western and Central Europe. This time there have been three currents,—insurgent nationalism starting from South Africa, Asiatic revival starting from Japan, Eastern democracy starting from Russia; and the centre of disturbance covers a huge zone, all Eastern, Southern and Western Asia, Northern or Asiaticised Africa and Russia which form the semi-Asiatic... . She has taken resolutely in hand the task of liberating herself from the curse of opium which has benumbed the energies of her people. She has sent her young men outside in thousands, chiefly to Japan, to be trained for the great work of development. With the help of Japanese instructors she is training herself quietly in war, and science has made an immense advance in the organisation of a disciplined... purposes. By her successful diplomacy she has deprived England of the fruits of the unscrupulous, piratical attack upon Tibet and is maintaining her hold on that outpost of the Mongolian world. Japan during this year has been vigorously pushing on her industrial expansion at home and abroad; she has practically effected the commercial conquest of Manchuria and begun in good earnest the struggle ...
... agents of progress and conservation political and social. Japan with her periods of splendid and magnificently fruitful progress and activity when she is absorbing new thoughts and new knowledge, followed by periods of calm and beautiful conservation in which she thoroughly assimilates what she has absorbed and suits it to her system,—Japan with the unlimited energy and personality of her individuals... farthest advance made by human evolution is the sub-rajaso-tamasic stage in which sattwa partially evolved tries to dominate its companions. Of this kind of community China, India and more recently Japan are the only Page 297 known instances. In China the tamasic element is very strong; the passionate conservatism of the race, the aggregativeness of the Chinese character which seems unable... for their Page 298 premature evolution of the sattwic element; they have repeatedly undergone defeat and subjugation by the more restless and aggressive communities of the world, while Japan by keeping its rajasic energy intact has victoriously repelled the aggressor. At present both these great countries are under temporary obscuration, they seem to be overweighted with tamas and passing ...
... fond of quoting the instance of Page 721 Japan, pointing to its magnificent unity and crying shame on ourselves for falling below that glorious standard; but those of us who talk most of Japan often betray a sovereign ignorance of its history. Nowhere was there a more keen, determined and murderous struggle between parties than in Japan in the days of its preparation, and the struggle was... was not over the ultimate ideal or object—the freedom and greatness of Japan, on which all parties were agreed—but on questions of method and internal organisation. Until that question as between the moderate Shogun party and the extremist Mikado party had been settled, it was felt by all that the approach to the ultimate ideal of all could not be seriously attempted. True national unity is the unity ...
... beautiful saris. Number nine holds stationery, book marks and notebooks used in Mother’s French classes plus a Corona typewriter that was given to the Mother by Rabindranath Tagore while she was in Japan. Also in this room is a stunning standing brass oil lamp with sixty-five wick lamps. On the top sits an ornate brass peacock. It was given by the poet and Film star, Harindranath Chattopadhyay. This... took place in May 1909 and he arrived in Pondicherry in April 1910.) The fourth and final room in the museum houses the Mother’s exquisite Japanese collections. She used these beautiful articles in Japan as well as after her arrival in Pondicherry. There are some lovely writing papers and envelopes. The paper has preserved itself miraculously well for almost a century. The Mother was a very keen collector... arts and crafts. The Mother collected some issues of an art magazine called “Koka”. Some of them have English translations of the articles and others are translated into French. While living in Japan the Mother became friendly with Madame Kobayashi, the wife of a prominent doctor. The following is the beautiful description by Madame Kobayashi of their friendship. “I loved her dearly. Have you ...
... years to come. Paul Richard got exempted from military service. In March 1916 the Richards managed to sail from London and arrived in Japan in June. They would stay in that country for four years, mainly in Tokyo and Kyoto. The Mother would often talk about Japan — about the splendour of the gardens, the landscapes and the buildings, about the cleanliness and politeness but also the mental rigidity... on with Sri Aurobindo had not yet arrived. ‘I had left my psychic being with [Sri Aurobindo]. How much he was present all the time that I was not with him, and how much he has guided my sojourn in Japan!’ Separating your body from your psychic being is a risky enterprise, even for an experienced occultist, and in the south of France, where the Richards were staying for some time, Mirra fell seriously... time.’ 14 Richard finally gave up his resistance and disappeared from the scene. The Mother never left Pondicherry again. Many years later two of her Indian devotees met with Dr. O. Okawa in Japan. He had lodged the Richards in his house for some time. ‘You would like to know, my young friends, what struck me about your Mother?’ he asked. ‘She had a will that moved mountains and an intellect ...
... in Japan. Long before, on 27.3.1957, in the morning the Mother had sent me an attractive card of the Golden Temple at Kyoto. The ethereal scene of the Temple gave an impression of silence, beauty, wonder and an immense peace. The Mother commented on the card in the evening when she saw me in her room at the Playground: Ah! You know I saw the Golden Temple at Kyoto when I was in Japan. It... It is very beautiful. The Mother gave the following message to the Japan Centre on 16.10.1972: Japan was, in the physical world, the teacher of beauty. She must not renounce her privilege. ...
... tension was tremendous, because it was psychological and vital as well as physical: a perpetual struggle against adverse forces; and during my stay in Japan, particularly... oh, it was terrible! So at night, everything that had been part of that life in Japan—people, things, movements, circumstances—all of it seemed to be surrounding my body in the form of vital 3 vibrations, and to be taking the place... place of my present state, which had completely vanished. For hours during the night, the body was reliving all the terrible tensions it had during those four years in Japan. And I realized how much (because at the time you pay no attention; the consciousness is busy with something else and not concentrated on the body), how much the body resists and is tense. And just as I was realizing this, I had... for thirty years has resurfaced—with this tremendous difference. And suddenly I said to myself, "How could it be? During all the time he was here, the time we were together (after I came back from Japan, when we were together), life, life on earth, lived such a wondrous divine possibility, so... really so unique, something it had never lived to such an extent and in such a way, for thirty years, and ...
... 'I had better go.' Then Richard managed to have himself sent Page 370 to Japan on business (an admirable feat!), representing certain companies. People didn't want to travel because it was dangerous—you risked being sunk to the bottom of the sea; so they were pleased when we offered and sent us to Japan. Once there (this would also make a great novel), Richard continued writing and sending... the Manifestation is Joy.' Then Richard would say, 'God DESIRED to know Himself,' and Sri Aurobindo, 'No, God had the Joy of knowing Himself.' And it went on and on like that! When Richard went to Japan, he sent his manuscripts to Sri Aurobindo, including The Wherefore of the Worlds and The Eternal Wisdom , and Sri Aurobindo continued to translate them into English. Frankly, it was a relief for... husband's, she couldn't withdraw it without his authorization. I don't know if it's still like that, but in those days the husband always had to countersign—an annoying situation! I got around this in Japan (the banker there found the rule stupid and told me to ignore it), but the bank here can be a pain in the neck, so it was good to get this cleared up. He remarried two or three more times. By now ...
... What we can affirm with Page 34 certainty m the present case is in reference to "someone" whom she had known well in Japan and who later visited her in Pondicherry. The person concerned was W. W. Pearson who had been with Tagore in Japan in 1916 when the Mother too had been in that country. He visited Pondicherry on 17 April 1923.¹His surprise at finding the Mother looking... that time. I didn't look old, I looked younger than forty, but still I was forty - and after a month's yoga I looked exactly eighteen. And someone who had seen me before, who had lived with me in Japan and came here, found it difficult to recognise me. He asked me, 'But, really, is it you?' I said, 'Obviously!' Only when we descended from the vital into the physical, then it was gone, for in the... chronology literally, we should have 1918 as the date for the shift of Yoga to the vital plane, for in that year the Mother, who was born in 1878, would have been forty. But in 1918 she was still in Japan. Only on 24 April 1920 she returned to Pondicherry after a little more than five years' absence. The joint Yoga shift is most likely to have taken place subsequent to this date. The Mother was often ...
... civilisation. That is a great harm that European vulgarising has done to Japan. Now you find most people mercantile in their outlook and they will do anything for the sake of money. Nakashima's mother when she returned from America to Japan – as is the custom with the Japanese – was so horrified to see the presentday Japan that she went back to America ! That the Japanese are not a spiritual race... race can be seen from the case of H, who was a great patriot and full of schemes for the future but at the same time did not like the modern trends of Japan. He used to say : "My psychic being has become a traitor.” Disciple : Have you read Noguchi's letter to Tagore defending Japan's aggression? Sri Aurobindo : No. But there are always two sides to a Page 214 ...
... civilisation. That is the great harm which European vulgarisation has done to Japan. Now you find most people mercantile in their outlook: they will do anything for the sake of money. Naka's mother, when she returned from America to Japan, as is the custom with the Japanese, was so horrified to see the present day Japan that she at once went back. That the Japanese are not a distinctly spiritual... spiritual race can be shown from an example. Hirasawa, a friend of Richard's and the Mother's, was a great patriot but he did not like the modern tendencies of Japan; so he used to say, "My soul has become a traitor." PURANI: Have you read Noguchi's letters to Tagore defending Japan's aggression? SRI AUROBINDO: No; but there are always two sides to a question. I don't believe in fanatical shouts against ...
... NIRODBARAN: But will the Congress Ministry come to power? SRI AUROBINDO: Don't see any chance now. EVENING PURANI: Japan says she recognises only the Bordeaux Government. SRI AUROBINDO (laughing): Of course! PURANI: There is unconfirmed news that Japan has either entered twenty miles inside Indo-China or spread along the frontier. SRI AUROBINDO: Inside means she is going to occupy... must do it quickly, when the enthusiasm prevails. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, they may be waiting for the full ratification of the truce. If they recognise the Government, they will be demilitarised and Japan will easily walk into Indo-China. PURANI: In the paper there is a scheme of how the German parachutists will land in England, how they will be equipped, etc. NIRODBARAN: Parachutes have not been... was said that all frontiers had been closed. SATYENDRA: The colonies are still undecided. Are they going to recognise Bordeaux too? SRI AUROBINDO: Then they will have to be demilitarised and Japan will easily walk in. The colonies say that they are all willing to fight. NIRODBARAN: Not a very determined attitude. They seem to be hesitating. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, and Churchill's speech also ...
... announced on 1 May, the German forces surrendered not long after, and the war in Europe was over on 8 May. The war against Japan continued for three more months; then, after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima (5 August) and Nagasaki (9 August) accounting for stunning devastation, Japan surrendered unconditionally, and 15 August was the day of complete victory. In 1940, after the fall of France, Hitler... that what is behind him is the Asuric, the Titanic power". 2 Actually, Hitler was to receive a major set-back on that day in the aerial Battle of Britain. Again, five years later, the capitulation of Japan on 15 Page 441 August 1945 was another indication of the inner nature of the world conflict. The Ashram at Pondicherry was inwardly in the thick of this fight, although superficially out... had indeed come to a grinding halt, Germany was under the occupation of the four Big Powers (USA, USSR, UK and France), the new Poland was a truncated nation as compared with the Poland of 1939, and Japan was under the American sway. On 20 November, the trial of the Nazi war criminals opened at Nuremberg. In India, the general elections Page 445 only polarised - more sharply even than before ...
... Pearl Harbour and the entry of Japan into the War on Hitler's side, the Mother should have so clearly inferred the grim shape of unfolding possibility, and especially of India's involvement in the global War. The Mother's occult vision seems to have told her of the imminence of the extension of the War to Russia and the Pacific, the death-grapple between Japan and the USA, and the quick fall... fall of the French, British and Dutch colonial possessions to Japan on the march. III In the early years of Japan's career of aggression - first in Manchuria, then in China - Sri Aurobindo didn't seem to attach much importance to it. But things assumed a different complexion when, after the eruption of the War in Europe, Subhash Chandra Bose escaped from India, established contacts with... thereby once and for all lay to rest the ghost of the 'Two Nations' theory. And, above all, it was necessary to organise the collective strength of the country and repel the very real danger from Japan. 11 V But it was all to no purpose. Gandhiji had described the Cripps Plan as "a post-dated cheque on a bank that was crashing"; and that was enough for the Congress leaders! Since Britain's ...
... ‘tabi’ that the Mother had brought from Japan were all more or less worn out. One day the Mother was talking to Vasudha about ‘tabis’ at the tennis-court. They were discussing how to procure these ‘tabis’. As I was standing beside them I overheard everything. And as luck would have it, just a few days later my youngest uncle arrived here. He was to go to Japan and had come to the Mother to ask for... for Her permission. I was delighted beyond words. “You have to get some ‘tabis’ for Mother from Japan,” I told my uncle. “Get me the measurement of the Mother’s Feet. Only then will the ‘tabis’ fit Her,” my uncle replied. With a sheet of paper and pencil in my hand I entered Her room in the Playground. She had come back after playing tennis and was resting on Her sofa. “Could you please... please place your Feet on this paper? I will make a tracing. My youngest uncle (Himansu) is going to Japan. He’ll get some ‘tabis’ for you and needs your size,” I told Her. The Mother agreed at once. I bent down to trace out the Mother’s Feet. The more I looked at Her Feet, the more I was filled with wonder. My hand would just not move. I had never had such an opportunity to look at Her Feet for so ...
... discipline and capacity to organise. We in India have not that sort of ordered and practical mind. In Japan everyone lives for the Mikado and the Mikado is the symbol of the nation – he embodies the spirit of the nation. Everyone is prepared to die for him. This we could never have in India ; Japan was more feudal in its past than any other Asiatic nation. Disciple : Is there no similarity between... . In fact, that form has been a success nowhere except in England. In France, it is worse, in America, in spite of their being an Anglo-Saxon race, it has not succeeded. Disciple : In Japan, is it the European form ? Sri Aurobindo : I don't think so; in Italy and in South Europe the parliamentary form is there but they all copied the German constitution and there is no reality... times? Sri Aurobindo : The modern political consciousness of the Page 48 national idea has come to Europe recently. It arose either by a slow growth as in England and Japan on account of their insular position more or less, or in , response to outside pressure as with the French who got it after their conquest by the Britons. Practically, the French began to be a nation ...
... There are so many Maharajas, Chiefs, Nawabs all over India. Sri Aurobindo : Germany was like that at one time. Napoleon swept away half of the number and the last war swept off another half. Japan also had many princes but they voluntarily abdicated their power. The Japanese are not greedy for money. They can easily sacrifice if they find it is their duty to sacrifice – of course, duty to the... one tall and with a long nose and fine aristocratic face, and another the 'Inune' who came from Australia and Polynesia. It was the tall people with classical features that gave Samurai Culture to Japan. I met a Japanese painter at Tagore's place – he was of the first type – what magnificent features! The other is the usual Mongolian type. Disciple : The dictator's psychology is an authority... There are so many Maharajas, Chiefs, Nawabs all over India. Sri Aurobindo : Germany was like that at one time. Napoleon swept away half of the number and the last war swept off another half. Japan also had many princes but they voluntarily abdicated their power. The Japanese are not greedy for money. They can easily sacrifice if they find it is their duty to sacrifice – of course, duty to the ...
... members. Because Japan had such a central authority, she was able in thirty years to face Europe as an equal; because we in India neither had such an authority nor tried Page 265 to develop it, but supported each tottering step by clinging to the step-motherly apron strings of a foreign Government, our record of more than seventy years has not been equal to one year of Japan. We have fumbled... cheaply purchased even at the price of temporary internal discord and civil slaughter. We also must develop a central authority, which shall be a popular Government in fact though not in name. But Japan was independent; we have to establish a popular authority which will exist side by side and in rivalry with a despotic foreign bureaucracy—no ordinary rough-riding despotism, but quiet, pervasive and ...
... deterred from his ambition or his duty by the fear of death, and the only result of this blow will be to harden Japan to her task. She has science, organisation, efficiency, ruthlessness, and Page 299 she will grind the soul out of Korea until it is indistinguishable from Japan. That is the only way to perpetuate a conquest, to kill the soul of the subject nation, and the Japanese know it... The Assassination of Prince Ito A great man has fallen, perhaps the greatest force in the field of political action that the nineteenth century produced, the maker of Japan, the conqueror of Russia, the mighty one who first asserted Asia's superiority over Europe in Europe's own field of glory and changed in a few years the world's future. Some would say that such a death ...
... published in a magazine. We are eagerly expecting A.G.’s 1 letter. But meanwhile we lose no time in making the last arrangements for our departure. Before leaving Japan we wish to establish the regular cargo service between Japan and Pondicherry of which you have heard already through Saurin, I suppose. It is this important matter, not yet settled, which prevents us from at once fixing the date... (Correspondence with Amrita) Amrita's Correspondence with The Mother 7 November 1919 ( Letter of the Mother from Japan in 1919 ) My dear Amrita We remember you very well indeed, and were most happy to receive your kind letter and also the photographs. These are simply splendid, especially the one standing. The expression is wonderful, and all our ...
... a Zen monk. I was to enter his main monastery, Eiheiji, in Japan and then return to help him in his work in the San Francisco Zen Center. At that time talks were also going on about starting a monastery in California, Tahsuldara, which was later to become the largest Buddhist monastery in North America. In August of 1965 I went to Japan and studied Japanese language at the Tokyo Stanford Center... his arrival in India, Tim sent me a letter saying that I should meet his Master, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whom he had discovered. By this time I was so ill that I felt my choice was either to die in Japan or go to India. I decided to go to India. In the meantime, Suzuki Roshi met me in Tokyo and scolded me, “You are wandering, you are lost and sick, you will die in India.” I answered, “I don’t know why ...
... rest of his life. Tibet was a forbidden territory and closely watched. Frustrated in her effort to reach Lhasa – for the time being, that is – she turned her back on it and travelled via Rangoon to Japan, which she hated intensely. Then she journeyed on via Korea to China, was caught there in the civil war, and spent the first several months in the lama monastery of Kum-Bum, then three years in the... was Richard’s guru. Everything he came to know about occultism and spirituality he had from her, and the books he wrote were based on her inspiration. She would accompany him to Pondicherry and to Japan, each time paying for the passage from the money she had left. Outwardly she would be the cultured, intelligent, refined Madame Mirra Richard, while inwardly she would be battling for Richard’s soul... practical deduction – without acquiring those of their masculine counterparts – logical reasoning and the capacity of analysis and synthesis.’ 29 A few years later Mirra would say to the women of Japan: ‘The true domain of women is spiritual.’ 30 And many years later the Mother would say that it is only women who can establish the connection between the old world and the new one in the making ...
... indefinite. It is more probably the second that will demand your assistance. That I have not yet seen.. I think it depends on what happens in China.. Japan cannot be ready to help India until the state of things in the whole of the Far East is changed. If Japan and China are ready, there will probably be a great change in Indo China and then the whole Asiatic movement can link itself together through India... around. I see most readily the things nearest to you. I do not suppose it will be anything to you except a thing to be watched for the opportunities it may leave behind in passing. Page 1414 Japan? I shall have to see more closely before I can say. From a distance I can only see things that prepare by bits; the sudden shocks that will break down what is established seem to me to be yet at a distance ...
... and a German landing in England. In either of the two last cases an invasion of India by Germany, Russia or Japan is only a question of time, and England will be unable to resist except by one of three means. (1) universal conscription in England & the Colonies (2) the aid of Japan or some other foreign power (3) the aid of the Indian people. The first is useless for the defence of India... ally who helps, may also covet. The third means the concession of self-government to India. In case I, there will only remain four considerable powers in Europe & Asia, Russia, France, England, Japan—with perhaps a Balkan Confederacy or Empire as a fifth. That means as the next stage a struggle between England & Russia in Asia. There again England is reduced to one of the three alternatives or a ...
... but in close intimacy with the universal movement. The greatest nations and the most cultured races have always considered art as a part of life and made it subservient to life. Art was like that in Japan in its best moments; it was like that in all the best moments in the history of art. But most artists are like parasites growing on the margin of Page 108 life; they do not seem to know... and ancient Egypt; for there pictures and statues and all objects of art were made and arranged as part of the architectural plan of a building, each detail a portion of the whole. It is like that in Japan, or at least it was so till the other day before the invasion of a utilitarian and practical modernism. A Japanese house is a wonderful artistic whole; always the right thing is there in the right place... an important limb in sacred ceremony, in the celebration of festivals, in the adoration of the Divine. In some countries it reached a very high degree of beauty and an extraordinary perfection. In Japan they kept up the tradition of the dance as a part of the religious life and, because the strict sense of beauty and art is a natural possession of the Page 111 Japanese, they did not allow ...
... but in close intimacy with the universal movement. The greatest nations and the most cultured races have always considered art as a part of life and made it subservient to life. Art was like that in Japan in its best moments; it was like that in all the best moments in the history of art. But most artists are like parasites growing on the margin of life; they do not seem to know that art should be the... and ancient Egypt; for there pictures and statues and all objects of art were made and arranged as part of the architectural plan of a building, each detail a portion of the whole. It is like that in Japan, or at least it was so till the other day before the invasion of a utilitarian and practical modernism. A Japanese house is a wonderful artistic whole; always the right thing is there in the right ... an important limb in sacred ceremony, in the celebration of festivals, in the adoration of the Divine. In some countries it reached a very high degree of beauty and an extraordinary perfection. In Japan they kept up the tradition of the dance as a part of the religious life and, because the strict sense of beauty and art is a natural possession of the Japanese, they did not allow it to degenerate into ...
... visit from Tagore when Tagore was in Japan and he told me, "Have you observed how Tagore stands quite upright, like this, with his head erect?" Then I told him, "But he doesn't have a big stomach!" He said to me, "It will come." ( Laughter ). There were hundreds of people at his meetings. They would Page 311 all sit on their knees as one does in Japan. He struck a table with a stick and... conscious even in their thought, that their thought is not purely intellectual and dry, and that their heart is aware of their thought. That's what he meant. But I can also tell you that when I was in Japan I met a man who had formed a group, for... It can't be said that it was for sadhana, but for a kind of discipline. He had a theory and it was on this theory that he had founded his group: that one can ...
... they make now is full of Japanese things, and perhaps they are not even aware of it. But since they occupied Japan, I see that the magazines received from America are full of Japanese things. And even in certain details of objects received from America, one now feels the influence of Japan. That happens automatically. It is quite strange, there always comes about a sort of equilibrium, and he who made... and ancient Egypt; for there pictures and statues and all objects of art were made and arranged as part of the architectural plan of a building, each detail a portion of the whole. It is like that in Japan, or at least it was so till the other day before the invasion of a utilitarian and practical modernism. A Japanese house is a wonderful artistic whole; always the right thing is there in the right place ...
... ...There are some strange things. When I went to Japan, I met a man there who was a striking reproduction of my father—the first moment, I wondered if I was dreaming. I think my father was already dead, but I am not sure, I don't remember exactly (my father died while I was in Japan, that's all I know). But he was the same age as my father, which means they were born... born together, at the same time. My father was born in Turkey, while this one was born in Japan—but anyway, it WAS my father! And this man took to me with a paternal passion, it was extraordinary! He wanted to see me all the time, he showered me with gifts.... And we could hardly talk to each other, as he knew very little English. But what a resemblance! As if one were the exact replica of the other: ...
... widespread incomprehension in people. The body was in certain situations.... One was taking place here and the other was in Japan. I realized that the body holds certain impressions, impressions of being in a.... It wasn't in the Ashram, but the one in Japan, exactly as I was in Japan (but these are not memories, they were entirely new activities, something entirely new), showing that I was surrounded by ...
... purpose. He is said to be an important man. He says Germany and Italy should make an axis with Japan. They will be exhausted after the war and lose all spring for action. Japan and these countries may help one another by trade agreements between East and West. Here the implication seems to be that Japan would represent the East and that the whole East would be left under Japanese influence. After ...
... condition will be worse, even worse than under Germany. But Russia will have to face Japan before Stalin comes to India. It is Japan's firm, age long aim to drive out all Europeans from Asia. She considers herself as holding and guarding the destiny of Asia. This aim is stronger than her own imperialism. NIRODBARAN: Japan has already given a hint of her aim—she wants to link China, Indo-China and the... their soldiers also are not what they were. NIRODBARAN: The Western races know Japan's aim very well and they call it the yellow peril. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, and theirs is the white peril, which Japan knows. NIRODBARAN: The Supermind ought to descend now; the conditions are getting very bad with Hitler and Stalin threatening everybody. SRI AUROBINDO: The Supermind is not concerned with these ...
... are proceeding with their evacuation. Do they think an attack is imminent? SRI AUROBINDO: They must have got some private information. Even if there is a chance, Japan won't say anything. They will simply make arrests. But the old Japan during the Magi regime would have said something. ... bring about peace in France by some agreement with Hitler. Proposals seem to be to give Nice to Italy, put Tunis under France and Italy, cede Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, Morocco to Spain, Indo-China to Japan, surrender air and navy to the Axis and have France declare war against England. SATYENDRA: Will the French fight? PURANI: If they had wanted to fight they could as well have gone on fighting ...
... SRI AUROBINDO (laughing): Yes, they are adopting a see-saw policy. First they started hobnobbing with Japan, then tried to be fraternal, then tried to be friendly with China, turned again towards Japan and now combine against her. If the news is true, it means that Hitler doesn't want Japan to be master of the East. NIRODBARAN: This eccentric Ajit Chakravarty asked Sisir— SRI AUROBINDO: Is ...
... 9 OCTOBER 1940 PURANI: It seems America's war with Japan is inevitable. SRI AUROBINDO: Why? PURANI: As a consequence of the opening of the Burma Road by the British. SRI AUROBINDO: Not likely. PURANI; And Prussia also will have two ports—the Balkans and Japan. SATYENDRA: Japan won't go to war. SRI AUROBINDO: None of them is willing unless they are obliged ...
... Culture and Civilisation of Greece. The thing is happening today on a much greater scale and more intensely perhaps. At one time Japan was educating herself on the American pattern; now that America has conquered Japan physically, she is being conquered by the spirit of Japan; even in objects manufactured in America, you notice the Japanese influence in some way or other. Page 181 ...
... rung of his consciousness, and that work of initiation, diksha, into the Life Divine she started in France. From France she went to Japan for the next stage of her work.. In Japan she came to the Far East. She spent five years, five long years in that country. Japan is the land of the Zen system of meditation, that is to say, a special way of entering into an inner consciousness, not a rational mental ...
... is felt from the eternal spheres. 22 VII It was towards the close of 1949 that the Mother saw again her son, André, whom she had left as a boy of eighteen in France when she sailed for Japan in 1916. In the intervening period which saw two World Wars, hardly twenty letters had passed between mother and son. Having married in the meantime, he had two daughters, Janine and Francoise (much... and of all ages. This book called Tales of All Times was not actually her own writing but a selection and adaptation from F.G. Gould's Youth's Noble Path which she had done during her stay in Japan over thirty years back. IX Tales of All Times, first appeared in French as Belles Histoires in 1946, and in English in 1951. 34 In a brief prefatory note written in February 1950, the... "discover themselves and follow a path of right and beauty". The stories are garnered from the whole world, the accumulated memories of the human race. Fable, fiction, history, myth, legend - India, Japan, Arabia, Persia, Jerusalem, Italy, Guyana - Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Zoroastrian all agreeably mingle in this humanistic pot pourri; and the result is an utterly wholesome ...
... Aurobindo 136-45, 154-5 identification with Supreme Principle 138-9 prayer of 31 July 1915 140 identification of her physical with the Divine 142-3 Vedic experience 144-5 (cf98-100) 'sees' Japan before visiting it 154 experience in a vegetable garden 159 experience in a Japanese street 161-2 dialogue with the Divine 162, 168-9, 183-6 'appointed from all Eternity' 163 receives... disequilibrium 313-4, 785 consciousness as a ladder 97 First World War 113-7, 141-4, 566 man's key-role in evolution 115, 562-3, 567, 742, 774 (cf707, 752) active and contemplative life 123 Japan and its people 156ff, 193 its lack of spirituality 160 Page 911 Beauty, Truth, Love 168, 721, 739 where true maternity begins 178 mankind's phoenix hour 179 (cf 621) basis... 40-2 The Supreme Discovery 42-3 Page 914 Prayers and Meditations 63ff, 126,136,142,195-7,299,301, 344ff, 370,383,479, 548-9, 555, 701 Radha's Prayer 93, 535 Talk to the Women of Japan 178ff Women and the War 178fn, 438 Conversations 297ff, 301ff, 370, 385, 506, 524.-5, 550, 600 Words of the Mother 297ff, 301ff, 506, 550ff, 710 Some Answers by the Mother 375 Youth ...
... this respect, and that our best model would probably be Japan. Now, Japan, when she aimed at general, and particularly at industrial, progress, adopted three main lines on which her education was to run. These were, first to send a number of her young men abroad, and especially to Germany, for education; secondly to establish great colleges in Japan itself, the staff of which was at first composed of ...
... themselves to the foreign change as best they could afterwards. A swift transformation scene like that which brought into being a new modernised Japan, would have been out of the question for her, even if the external circumstances had been equally favourable. For Japan lives centrally in her temperament and in her aesthetic sense, and therefore she has always been rapidly assimilative; her strong temperamental... and originative vigour, that arose as the first result of Western education in India. Theirs was the impatient hope of a transformation such as took place afterwards with so striking a velocity in Japan; Page 18 they saw in welcome prospect a new India modernised wholesale and radically in mind, spirit and life. Intensely patriotic in motive, they were yet denationalised in their mental ...
... like the asparagus. It is quite a classical dish in Japan. And their bamboos are much more tender than the bamboos here. Their bamboos are very tender and their sprouts are wonderful. Still, that's how it is. It seems in Europe one knows how to use only three hundred and fifty varieties of vegetables from the vegetable kingdom, whilst in Japan they use six hundred of them and more. But perhaps if... nobody will probably ever know the number of different plants there are upon earth. Yet when a list is made of the number of plants men know and use, it is ridiculously small. I believe, when I was in Japan, the Japanese used to tell me that Europeans eat only three hundred and fifty types of different plants, whilst they use more than six hundred. That makes a considerable difference. They used to say: ...
... not know to what an extent it is organised. I believe there are many of these spirits of death, I believe there are hundreds. I have met at least two of them. One I met in France and the other in Japan, and they were very different; which leads one to believe that probably in accordance with the mental culture, the education, the country and beliefs there should be different spirits. But there are... person and you do not want him to die, then you can, if you possess a certain occult power, tell it: "No, I forbid you to take him." It is a thing that has happened, not once but several times, in Japan and here. It was not the same spirit. That is what makes me say that there must be many. —I don't want him to die. —But I have a right to one death! —Go and find someone who is ready to die... and the spirit can do nothing but go away; but it does not give up its due and goes elsewhere. There is another death. It is the same thing with fire. I saw the spirit of fire, particularly in Japan because fire is an extraordinary thing in that country. When a fire starts, some eighty houses burn: a whole quarter. It is something fantastic. The houses are of wood and they burn like match-boxes; ...
... the process by which Goethe helped to reinvigorate European thinking. But ... Europe has for some time ceased to produce original thinkers, though it still produces original mechanicians____ China, Japan and the Musulman states are sliding into a blind European imitativeness. In India alone there is self-contained, dormant, the energy and the invincible spiritual individuality which can yet arise and... * (On March 29, 1914, Sri Aurobindo met Mirra, a French lady who had come from France to see him. She stayed at Pondicherry for a year, went back to France, and in 1916 journeyed to Japan where she remained until her return to Pondicherry on April 24, 1920. For thirty years she was going to work with Sri Aurobindo. We know her as "Mother." Two passages from letters... wealth brims over to Judea and Egypt and Rome; her colonies spread her arts and epics and creeds in the Archipelago; her traces are found in the sands of Mesopotamia; her religions conquer China and Japan and spread westward as far as Palestine and Alexandria, and the figures of the Upanishads and the sayings of the Buddhists are re-echoed on the lips of Christ. Everywhere, as on her soil, so in her ...
... Words of Long Ago To the Women of Japan To speak of children to the women of Japan is, I think, to speak to them of their dearest, their most sacred subject. Indeed, in no other country in the world have the children taken such an important, such a primordial place. They are, here, the centre of care and attention. On them are concentrated—and rightly—the... rightly—the hopes for the future. They are the living promise of growing prosperity for the country. Therefore, the most important work assigned to women in Japan is child-making. Maternity is considered as the principal role of woman. But this is true only so long as we understand what is meant by the word maternity. For to bring children into the world as rabbits do their young—instinctively, ignorantly ...
... the dominant function of the system was social and economic and there seems at first sight to be no reason why it should not have followed, with whatever differences of detail, the common evolution. Japan with its great feudal order under the spiritual Page 375 and secular headship of the Mikado and afterwards the double headship of the Mikado and the Shogun evolved one of the most vigorous... it must unite the two by the alliance of the State and the Church to uphold the single authority of the temporal head or combine the spiritual and temporal headship in one authority as was done in Japan and China and in England of the Reformation. Even in India the people which first developed some national self-consciousness not of a predominantly spiritual character were the Rajputs, especially of... it, becomes perfectly intelligible as a manifestation of the sense of the old necessity, not so truly necessary now 1 but felt in the subconscious minds of these peoples. In the new formation of Japan into a nation of the modern type the Mikado played a similar role; the instinct of the renovators brought him out of his helpless seclusion to meet this inner need. The attempt of a brief dictatorship ...
... States which need the monarch as a centralising power or keystone. At the two extremes of the Asiatic world in Japan and in Turkey the monarchy after the close of the war still preserved something of its old sacrosanct character and its appeal to the sentiment of the race. In Japan, still imperfectly democratised, the sentiment which surrounds the Mikado is visibly weakened, his prestige survives... remained, behind all surface appearances, Page 467 not political but social, monarchical and aristocratic at the surface but with a fundamental democratic trend and a theocratic spirit. Japan with its deep-rooted monarchic sentiment is the one prominent exception to this general rule. Already a great tendency of change is manifest. China, always a democratic country at bottom though admitting ...
... Eastern Renascence 03-September-1907 When the mailed fist of young Japan was striking blow after blow at the huge Russian bear our benevolent rulers who were secretly dismayed and astonished tried to put on a smiling face as best they could and persuade us into the belief that Japan was only an exception which proved the rule of Eastern worthlessness. Somehow or other, however... industrial work with a capital of over ten million taels, where the workmen number several thousand, such persons will be even more greatly rewarded—even to the extent of being raised to the peerage." Japan joined in the race of commercial enterprise later than India and outstripped her in no time and now China, where there are no "honest Swadeshi" officials to let loose mercenary Page 670 ...
... Rishis. This is taken for granted. If we look at Japan, we see that the Japanese people never forget their ancestors who offered their lives as a sacrifice for the sake of their country. This sense of sacrifice is always present in the Japanese blood. When a warrior fights for his country, he recalls those sacrifices. This is something we must learn from Japan. We must learn from the Japanese how to honour... reforms we must certainly include it; whatever is acceptable must be adapted suitably by us. But we have to guard against damaging our foundation in the process. We must make use of Western science as Japan did, but in implementing its ideas we must not be blind to the achievements of our forefathers. For example, in Government medical colleges the students remain unaware of our Ayurvedic science, though ...
... largely one of self-effacement, the subordination of the individual to a community and the scrupulous adhesion to principle at the cost of personal predilection and happiness. As in Turkey now, so in Japan, it was a few strong men who, winning control of the country by the strength of great ideas backed by the sword, right supported by might, held the land safe and quiet while they revolutionised the... Empire. They were the calculated steps not of Chauvinism but of a defensive statesmanship. China Enters The circle of constitutionally governed Asiatic countries increases. To Turkey, Persia and Japan, China is added. Towards the close of the ten years set apart in the Chinese programme Page 290 for the preparation of self-government, the Chinese Government has kept its promise to grant... lism means, and therefore the Englishman struggles, in the face of continual disappointment, to foresee the speedy collapse of Nationalism and Parliamentary Government in Persia, Turkey and even Japan as the inevitable fate of an institution foreign to the Asiatic genius, which is popularly supposed to recoil from freedom and hug most lovingly the heaviest chains. The Patiala Arrests For some ...
... Indian painting & sculpture. But the art of Japan presented certain outward characteristics on which the European could readily seize. Japanese painting had already begun to make its way into Europe even before the victories of Japan and its acceptance of much of the outward circumstances of European civilisation opened a broad door into Europe for all in Japan that Europe can receive without unease or ...
... arrive straightaway in India. He first reached Japan. He started a laboratory which interested many and Philippe got to know many — including some Buddhist monks from Mongolia. He went and lived in a monastery in Mongolia. It was a hard austere life. Yet he was not inwardly satisfied. He had heard of Sri Aurobindo when in Japan (Our Mother had left Japan a little before Philippe’s arrival there). He ...
... whole.’ 63 To this end she invited the architect Antonin Raymond, a Czech, notwithstanding his typically French name. Raymond was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, whom he had accompanied to Japan in 1923 to help in the rebuilding of Tokyo after the disastrous earthquake which destroyed most of the city. That was where he met and befriended Philippe Saint-Hilaire, later called Pavitra. In 1938... building Golconde. The one was František Sammer, a student of Le Corbusier and also a Czech; he had assisted Le Corbusier in the building of a housing complex in Moscow, and afterwards he had travelled to Japan where he met Raymond. The other was George Nakashima, an American born of Japanese parents. About his work for Golconde, Raymond has written: 96 ‘We lived as in a dream. No time, no money were... and steel about 200 rupees per ton. Pondicherry was then a free port and there were absolutely no customs or import charges or restrictions. And as we had then a good off-loading pier, shipments from Japan came directly to Pondicherry.’ 65 Udar was responsible for the manufacturing of the tools, accessories and fittings in metal required for Golconde. Nearly all of these objects were custom-made, and ...
... composer Koscak Yamada; the originator of modern dance in Japan, Baku Ishii; the Kabuki actor Ichikawa Sadanji II; the modern drama pioneer Kaoru Osannai; the dancer Michio Ito. All of these people felt that Dalcroze's teachings were fundamental to many of the arts. But Sosaku Kobayashi was the first to apply it to elementary education in Japan. If you asked him what Eurhythmics was, he would... experience harmony between their minds and bodies and, with this aim, developed a creative and joyful educational experiment. A fter summer vacation was over, the second semester began, for in Japan the school year starts in April. In addition to the children in her own class, Totto-chan had made friends with all the older boys and girls, thanks to the various gatherings during summer vacation ...
... Mother dressed in a gown and a fur coat, dating from her Paris days. 5. The Mother used to wear kimonos while she was in Japan. 6. She came back from Japan in 1920.7. The Mother established the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1926. 8. The Mother met Rabindranath Tagore while in Japan. 9. Dalai Lama met the Mother in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in the sixties of the twentieth century. Etc. It is to be ...
... ever-youthful physical envelope of the unveiled Spirit. *** When Mother came back from Japan, she began to work with Sri Aurobindo. By that time, Sri Aurobindo had brought down the supramental light into the mental world and was trying to transform the Mind. In Mother's words: When I returned from Japan and we began to work together, __________________________________ ¹ Sri Aurobindo... When we were in the Vital, my body suddenly became young again, as it had been when I was eighteen years old!... There was a young man named Pearson, a disciple of Tagore, who had lived with me in Japan for four years; he returned to India, and when he came to see me in Pondicherry, he was stupefied.¹ 'What has happened to you!' he exclaimed. He hardly recognised me. During that same period (it didn't ...
... surface details that few could see the real issues which were at stake. There was a second occasion when Sri Aurobindo openly intervened in a political issue which vitally affected India's future. Japan had entered the War in December 1941 and within three months, sweeping everything before her, had reached the gates of India. Realising the extreme gravity of the situation Churchill announced in March... tension between the two communities and lead to cooperation instead of confrontation. Sri Aurobindo also saw the necessity of organising the collective strength of the country and repel the danger from Japan. He told us clearly: 'Japan's imperialism being young and based on industrial and military power and moving westward, was a greater menace to India than the British imperialism which was old, which... By 1945 it was clear that the Allies would emerge victorious in the War. On May 8, 1945, the war against Hitlerism came to an end and then, after the atomic explosions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945. The next day, August 15, Sri Aurobindo's seventy-third birthday, marked the first day of peace after the ravages of the Second World War. Another fortuitous coincidence ...
... by Germany during World War II, Japan occupied Vietnam in 1940 and installed Baodai, the Vietnamese emperor, as the leader of a puppet government. Ho Chi Minh, leader of the communist guerrillas waged an anti-Japanese independence campaign by organizing an alliance for independence. France claimed its colonial control over Vietnam in the wake of the defeat of Japan in 1945. Ho Chi Minh responded to... attributed to many factors. First, North Vietnam's persistent strategies and tactics for a communist revolution served the purpose effectively. After a long colonial rule by France, Vietnam was occupied by Japan in World War II. Against the backdrop, North Vietnam cashed in on the xenophobic sentiments of the Vietnamese. Labelling the U.S. troops in Vietnam as colonial forces, North Vietnam fanned anti-American ...
... its consciousness, and that work of initiation, diks ā , into the Life Divine she started in France. From France she went to Japan for the next stage of her work. In Japan she came to the Far East. She spent five years, five long years in that country. Japan is the land of the Zen system of meditation, that is to say, a special way of entering into an inner consciousness, not a rational mental ...
... there any significance in Japan having earthquakes and fires? . . Sri Aurobindo : There is no special significance ; these things have been there for a long time. Page 151 Disciple : Why is Japan selected for these things ? Sri Aurobindo : They have been there – the earthquakes etc. for twenty thousand years. They are not new. Japan is a country of wooden houses ...
... SRI AUROBINDO: They made them to save their relatives probably. NIRODBARAN: Was Trotsky a better man than Stalin? SRI AUROBINDO: He was an idealist, at any rate. Then there was talk about Japan. Purani referred to the resignation of all the Japanese Ministers and related some general's declaration about a hundred years' war. SRI AUROBINDO: Oh, yes—to make the world civilised and to drive... to crush England effectively, as is very unlikely, India would have a chance. For then England wouldn't be able to hold India any more. NIRODBARAN: But that power itself or else some other like Japan can come and capture her again. SRI AUROBINDO: It can't be so easy. These powers are far away from India. For them it would be a great venture. Besides, one can't conquer a country only with a navy... But it wouldn't be safe at present to depend on outside help. When the Mother once asked a Japanese friend of hers whether Japan's navy would help India in case of war, he replied, "Don't trust Japan. If she once gets in, it will be hard to get her out." NIRODBARAN: India has no navy. SRI AUROBINDO: It can be built up after independence, though it may take time. PURANI: Even the Congress ...
... AUROBINDO: Because Japan is going to blockade the coast; in that case it will be very distressing for them. NIRODBARAN: China will be put in a very difficult position then. SRI AUROBINDO: There is Russia. She helps China with all that is necessary. NIRODBARAN: Why is Russia against Japan? SRI AUROBINDO: Because she doesn't want Japanese supremacy in China and, besides, Japan is her traditional ...
... the Sino-Japanese War? SRI AUROBINDO: I don't think much of either party. They are six of one and half-dozen of the other. Both too materialistic. But if I were to choose, I would side with Japan, for Japan at one time had an ideal. The power of the Japanese for self-sacrifice, patriotism, self-abnegation and silence was remarkable. They would never lose their temper in front of anybody, though perhaps... are about one or two million Buddhists, but there is practically nothing of Buddhism. THE MOTHER: Is Northern or Southern Buddhism professed? NIRODBARAN: Southern. THE MOTHER: In China and Japan too no real Buddhism is found—only ceremonies. In Ceylon, they say, there is still some authentic Buddhism. NIRODBARAN: Also in Burma nothing authentic remains, I am told, but the Burmese people ...
... Mikado named Magi used to believe that and feel that the inspiration above was doing whatever was necessary. There are two types of men in Japan. One is tall, with a long nose and finely cut aristocratic face. It was they who gave the Samurai culture to Japan. I met at Tagore's place one of this type: he had magnificent features. The second type is the usual Mongol type. They haven't a particularly... Nawabs and other rulers dotting India everywhere. SRI AUROBINDO: Germany was like that at one time. Napoleon swept away one half and Hitler the other half—not Hitler exactly but the post-war period. Japan also had the same thing, but the princes voluntarily abdicated their powers and titles for the sake of duty—duty to their country. NIRODBARAN: How far back in history do the Japanese rulers go? ...
... culture and civilisation of Greece. The thing is happening today on a much greater scale and more intensely perhaps. At one time Japan was educating herself on the American pattern; now that America has conquered Japan physically, she is being conquered by the spirit of Japan; even in objects manufactured in America, you notice the Japanese influence in some way or other. Page 421 ...
... monthly paper-boat carried to numberless ports during the next six and a half years. Mirra (the Mother of later years) had in the meanwhile left for France in 1915, and after a rewarding sojourn in Japan, she had returned to Pondicherry on 24 April 1920. During his āśramvās at Alipur, Sri Aurobindo had broadcast this mystic "Invitation": Page 525 I sport with solitude here in my... to stay and do the sadhana of Sri Aurobindo's integral Yoga. Then there was Philip Barbier de St. Hilaire, a young Frenchman of high intelligence and ardent aspiration, who first came from Japan to Pondicherry on 26 December 1925. Having accepted him as a disciple, Sri Aurobindo gave him a new name, 'Pavitra'. They had spiritual talks spread over several months in 1926, and the record of these... kept going up year by year. The "change" effected by the Mother had two aspects. First, with her French precision and orderliness, augmented by her infallible sense of artistic elegance acquired in Japan, she brought cleanliness, a quiet efficiency and a simple sufficiency into the life of the household that was now an Ashram. Here the testimony of one who has been through it all, Nolini, is of considerable ...
... started taking up all kinds of different stories on Fridays-Her story-telling days. She also took up legends from different countries, such as India, Persia, Japan, China etc. and about her own experiences in Japan while taking up the legends of Japan; this continued for several weeks. She was very fond of that country. She also spent many Friday classes telling stories and legends from China. When the ...
... it that ought not to be there." "If you think so, you must leave it till your nerves are restored. Look here, why not take John's yacht and go for a cruise, oh, to America, if you like,—or to Japan. Japan will give you a longer spell of the sea." Page 979 "I'll do it," cried Richard Lancaster, "as soon as Isabel's safe through this, I'll go. Thank you, Armand." And with a look of great ...
... inevitably to separate existence. The one thing that stands in the way is the present inability of these organisms to defend their separate existence. Australia lies under the outstretched sword of Japan to say nothing of the subtler, less apparent but more ominous menace of Germany. Canada is kept to England by the contiguity of a powerful, well-organised and expanding foreign State. South Africa on... have been lifted up by great efforts and sacrifices but show a weak vitality, the Anglo-Saxon race is beginning everywhere to recede and dwindle. On the other hand in Asia life pulsates victoriously. Japan has risen at one bound to the first rank of nations; China untouched by her calamities renovates her huge national life. The effect on India of an accumulation of almost all the conditions which bring ...
... reason we have been able to find is that the fears and hesitations of our Moderate countrymen stand in our way. The whole Asiatic world is moving forward with enormous rapidity. In Persia, in Turkey, in Japan the impatient idealists have by Page 225 means suited to the conditions of the country effected the freedom and are now busy building up the dignity and strength of their motherland. Co... exercise of free and self-governing functions. We freely admit that the liberated nation would have to face many and most serious problems even as Turkey and Persia have to face such problems today, as Japan had to face them in the period of its own revolution. But to argue from Page 226 these propositions to the refusal of self-government is to use a sophistry which can only impose on the minds ...
... kind of actions. Paul and Mirra Richard sailed back to a Europe at war. In 1916 Paul Richard managed to obtain a trade commission in Japan, and the Richards again sailed eastward, this time on risky waters because of the German U-boats. Mirra will always remember Japan for the superb beauty she had encountered there time and again, but also for the mental rigidity of the people. After a stay of four ...
... a climax, and a general mobilization in Western Europe was ordered towards the end of 1938. Meanwhile the Spanish Civil War, the ‘rehearsal’ for the worldwide war to come, was fought; a militarized Japan expanded aggressively in the East; Mussolini wanted to revive the honour of Italy on the model of ancient Rome; and Stalin, after having demonically ravaged his own people and eliminated his top military... was the instrument of the Asura, who knew best of all what India stood for. This explains the simultaneous pincer movement of the Axis Powers (through southern Russia, Africa and the Middle East) and Japan (through Burma) towards the Indian subcontinent. That such was in fact Hitler’s intention has been documented in my book Beyond Man. But there were other diabolic forces incarnated on the Earth ...
... methods of that Being. The Mother did everything possible to convert Richard; this was the reason why she had married him and the cause of the hell their relation had been for her all along, also in Japan and during their last months together in Pondicherry. Richard knew very well who Mirra essentially was, and despite his appreciation of Sri Aurobindo, he himself wanted to be recognized by her as the... planned conquest of India, documents reveal’ and dated 21 June 1986, was published the next day in the Indian Express. According to the documents on which this report is based, Germany, Italy and Japan had signed an agreement, in January 1942, on the division of the spheres. Hitler counted on a quick defeat of Russia to invade, in the spring of the same year, West Asia, which would then serve as a ...
... Correspondence with The Mother 2 January 1936 Dear Mother, Soybeans. Since You have had a lot of soybeans in Japan tell us how to prepare them or how to take out the soybean milk. In Japan it was never prepared at home. The various preparations are generally bought ready-made. So I do not know at all how to prepare them. All love and blessings ...
... from house arrest, fled to Europe and stayed for a while in Germany, trying to muster support for an attack on British India. In 1942, Subhash Bose, reached Japan, then Singapore, and developed the "Indian National Army," which was to join Japan in its campaign against British India. In 1944, the I.N.A. launched its offensive from Burma, but could not proceed beyond Assam as the Japanese forces became ...
... Japanese nation well and was positive about that. Okawa, the leader of the Black Dragon (the one who shammed mad and got off at the Tokyo trial) told her that if India revolted against the British, Japan would send her Navy to help, but he said that he would not like the Japanese to land because if they once got hold of Indian soil they would never leave it, and it was true enough. If the Japanese... the idea of the book. Subsequently she met one of the chief lieutenants of Subhash, a man from Hyderabad who had been his secretary and companion in the submarine by which he came from Germany to Japan, and he recounted his daily talks in the submarine and strongly defended his action. From what he said it was evident, although we still regarded Subhash’s action as a reckless and dangerous folly ...
... nucleus of a new community. This is hardly the fact. There was no Asram at first, only a few people came to live near Sri Aurobindo and practise Yoga. It was only some time after the Mother came from Japan that it took Page 102 the form of the Asram, more from the wish of the sadhaks who desired to entrust their whole inner and outer life to the Mother than from any intention or plan of hers... and Sri Aurobindo decided to entrust Mirra, the Mother, with the task of organizing the "ashram" on a wider basis.... The facts are In the meantime, the Mother, after a long stay in France and Japan, returned to Pondicherry on the 24th April, 1920. The number of disciples then showed a tendency to increase rather rapidly. When the Asram began to develop, it fell to the Mother to organise it; Sri ...
... Barindra Kumar Ghose (Sri Aurobindo's younger brother, see Section Two below) was released from the penal colony of the Andaman Islands in January 1920. Paul and Mirra Richard returned to Pondicherry from Japan on 24 April 1920. [25] 2 September 1920. For information on the "marriage idea", see Light to Superlight , pp. 93 - 96. [26] 11 November 1920. The portion of this letter placed by Sri Aurobindo... Richard was defeated, but he and Mirra remained in India until February 1915, when Paul was ordered to join his regiment. The Richards remained in France until March 1916, when they departed for Japan. After a four-year stay in that country, they returned to Pondicherry in April 1920. To Paul Richard . Sri Aurobindo wrote these letters to Richard after their meeting in 1910 and before Richard ...
... Cripps' proposal; he also sent a telegram to C. Rajagopalachari, in which he said : " .. . Appeal to you to save India. Formidable danger new foreign domination when old on way to self-elimination." (Japan was then threatening to invade Burma and India; a few days earlier, it had also become known that Sub has Bose was in Germany and, confident of Germany's victory, was trying to organize with its... Cripps' proposal; he also sent a telegram to C. Raja-gopalachari, in which he said: "... Appeal to you to save India. Formidable danger new foreign domination when old on way to self-elimination." (Japan was then threatening to invade Burma and India; a few days earlier, it had also become known that Sub has Bose was in Germany and, confident of Germany's victory, was trying to organize with its help ...
... his spiritual being. Sri Aurobindo (S.A.B.C.L. Vol.15, p. 605) Page 7 Education begins before Birth To speak of children to the women of Japan is, I think, to speak to them of their dearest, their most sacred subject. Indeed, in no other country in the world have the children taken such an important, such a primordial place. They are, here... attention. On them are concentrated - and rightly - the hopes for the future. They are the living promise of growing prosperity for the country. Therefore, the most important work assigned to women in Japan is child-making. Maternity is considered as the principle role of woman. But this is true only so long as we understand what is meant by the word maternity. For to bring children into the world as rabbits ...
... practised in Tibet, and spread from Tibet into China and from China to Japan, one finds the Bodhisattvas (who stand for saints as in all other religions), all the previous Buddhas who are also like some sort of demigods or gods. I don't know if you have ever had a chance to visit a Buddhist temple of the North (I saw them in China and Japan), for you enter halls where there are innumerable statuettes—all ...
... Western countries and even in some Eastern ones, people sew like this, from right to left; in Japan they sew from left to right. Well, it seems quite natural to you to sew from right to left, doesn't it? That is how you have been taught and you don't think about it, you sew in that way. If you go to Japan and they see you sewing, it makes them laugh, for they are in the habit of sewing differently ...
... air of one place and in the air of another. If indeed you are accustomed to have this perception of the subtle physical, you can say immediately, “Ah! This air is as in France” or “This is the air of Japan.” It is something indefinable like taste or smell. But in this instance it is not that, it is a perception of another sense. It is a physical sense, it is not a vital or mental sense; it is a sense... physical, vital, mental and psychic. × In the preceding talk Mother had described how on her return from Japan she had all of a sudden physically felt the atmosphere of Sri Aurobindo at a distance of two nautical miles from Pondicherry. ...
... came back from Japan and gradually, as the number of people increased, the Ashram was founded in 1926. Although there is a certain charm and poetry in the fact that there is no formal date for the creation of our Ashram, could it be said from the occult point of view that the Ashram was born with the Mother's arrival? The Ashram was born a few years after my return from Japan, in 1926. 17 ...
... that is to say they do not like weakness. Page 382 The Mussulmans are impulsive, the Israelites are rational. June 1967 ( Message for the Sri Aurobindo Society, Osaka, Japan ) Japan was in the physical world the teacher of beauty. She must not renounce her privilege. Blessings. 16 October 1972 All countries are equal and essentially "one". Each of them ...
... complains was herself an imperialist and colonising country through all the centuries in which Japan kept religiously within her own borders If it were not profitable, I suppose nobody would do it. England has grown rich on the plundered wealth of India. France depends for many things on her African colonies. Japan needs an outlet for her over-abundant population and safe economic markets nearby. Each is ...
... through a thick layer of totally insensitive tamas 1 by means of extremely violent sensation—an extreme is needed if anything is to be felt through that tamas. I was always told, for example (in Japan it was strongly emphasized to me), that the people of the Far East are very tamasic physically. The Chinese in particular are said to be the remnants of a race that inhabited the moon before it froze... Very well-known. But the Chinese are also great artists. Yes. When I read that book (it was very well written), I understood the problem, and my understanding was confirmed when I went to Japan. Many Japanese also have a blunted sensibility ('blunted' in the sense that to feel anything they need extremely violent stimuli). Perhaps an explanation could be found along these lines. But behind ...
... to sit down! ( silence ) What is that treatment? It's the treatment prescribed in those cases. Yes, yes, the classic thing... I can tell you (if it helps your physical mind) that in Japan I had a sort of measles (which had its own rather deep reasons) and that the Japanese doctor (who, besides, had studied in Germany, anyway he was a doctor through and through) told me very gravely that... I should take care, that I was in the early stages of this wonderful disease, that above all I should never live in a cold climate, and this and that.... I was losing weight and so on. That was in Japan. Then I came here and I said that to Sri Aurobindo, who looked at me and smiled; and it was over, we didn't talk about it anymore. We didn't talk about it anymore and it wasn't there anymore! ( laughing ...
... sign of the idea. Now, under the influence from outside, they have added phonetic signs to build a sentence; but even now the order in the construction of the ideas is different. It's different in Japan and different in China. And unless you FEEL this, you can never know a foreign language really well. So we speak according to our very old habit (and basically it's more convenient for us simply because... the old rules is a hindrance to the evolution of expression. From that point of view, French is a long way behind English—English is much more supple. But the languages in countries like China and Japan that use ideograms seem to be infinitely more supple than our own. Surely! They can express new ideas and new things far more easily through the juxtaposition of signs. But now, with this ...
... gesture ) shut up in an egg. When Sri Aurobindo was here, you went to sit in the room he was in, and felt perfectly sheltered from everything—and it was true. The only danger at the time was Japan, and Japan had officially declared it wouldn't bomb Pondicherry because of Sri Aurobindo. But at least there were still men in their planes, and they could choose not to bomb. But you don't tell a jet plane ...
... was... (how much time?... I came back in 1920; I came here in 1914 and left from here in 1915, I think—from '16 to '20 I was in Japan, but I came in '14 and I think I left in 1915), from that time on, there were all those experiences [ kundalini , etc.], in France and in Japan. ( Mother goes into a contemplation ) But, Mother, what I'd like to understand, it's that since you withdrew to this room ...
... With the Mother With the Mother With the Mother The Mother in Japan The Mother in Japan Descent of The Mother Descent of The Mother Descent ...
... we to know which is the highest? Our own choice is not necessarily the highest. THE MOTHER: Each goes to the limit of his own consciousness. I have met any number of people in Europe, India and Japan practising Yoga under different masters. Each claimed that his realisation was the highest. He was quite sure about it and quite satisfied with his condition and yet each was standing at a different... are there no criteria by which to know the truth? THE MOTHER: What criteria? If you ask them, they say their experience is something wonderful but can't be described by the mind. I met Tagore in Japan. He claimed to have reached the peace of Nirvana and he was beaming with joy about it. I thought, "Here is a man who claims to have found peace and reached Nirvana. Let us see." I asked him to meditate ...
... as we have Anantanag, the symbol of infinite Time. That symbolism has come from prehistoric animals like the dinosaurs. PURANI: Binyon says that what Wordsworth has realised in poetry, China and Japan have done in art, manifesting the Spirit in Nature. NIRODBARAN: China also? SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, both have the same source of inspiration. Chinese art is greater, Japanese more subtle and perfect... is spoiling everything. Outside people judge the art of the Japanese by their exports, but they export only mediocre things, saying these are good enough for barbarians. Only people who return from Japan bring genuine articles. PURANI: Binyon also says about European religious paintings by Tintoretto and others that there is too much action in them. In a picture of heaven, for instance, one feels ...
... is venerated very deeply in Japan. Modern European scholars are now trying to prove that Budddha's life-story was a later invention. PURANI: The Tibetan Lamas are believed to be in a direct line from Buddha. But to find the true Dalai Lama is not easy at all. You know about the various signs by which he has to be recognised? SATYENDRA: Is Zen Buddhism alive in Japan? SRI AUROBINDO: Oh yes. ...
... but the result won't be good for us. PURANI: Japan is also bringing her navy near Indo-China. SRI AUROBINDO: That is to see that no supply of goods passes through to China. NIRODBARAN: No arms are likely to pass now as France is preoccupied. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but other goods that may help China to continue the struggle may go through if Japan is not watchful. NIRODBARAN: Have you read ...
... involved in the war and so nothing should interfere with India's war effort. In the recent military pact Japan has been given the right to be the leader of Asia. SRI AUROBINDO: Asia? How? What of Italy's intentions regarding Syria and Palestine? PURANI: I don't see what the pact means or how Japan is going to profit by it. SRI AUROBINDO: It means nothing. It is like the anti-Comintern pact - implying ...
... if England goes down, Japan may herself grab India. SRI AUROBINDO: She may. But out of the three evils, she may be the best and I don't think she will annex India. She may start some Government as in Manchuria. The Chinese can't be relied on to fight against Russia or Germany. Everyone knows that Italy has her eye on Asia Minor and that Germany wants to get into Baghdad. Japan won't like that. She ...
... with Japan regarding the Burma route. But China may not be affected much. SRI AUROBINDO: It will be affected considerably. SATYENDRA: The Japanese radio has been declaring that England must concede the demands. Otherwise they will have to take the necessary steps. So England has given way. SRI AUROBINDO: England can't deal with anything else now except Hitler. She can't deal with Japan or Russia ...
... AUROBINDO: Quite possible. PURANI: Hitler may want the Japanese to act as a check against the British and keep them engaged in the East while he carries the invasion. SRI AUROBINDO: Perhaps. Japan is still talking only of Indo-China, the East Indies and the South Sea Isles and not talking furtherr than that. But she may start an attack on Singapore after settling in those places. In that way... radio, that the Kuomintang met and spoke of reducing the suffering of the people. The leaders wanted to adopt a pro-Fascist policy by lining up with Germany. That means the whole of the Far East for Japan. There was no confirmation of that news. PURANI: Everybody is becoming pro-German now. The result of the French collapse. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, they think England will go down but are not quite ...
... may pass over your dead body! SRI AUROBINDO: Somebody in England gave the same suggestion. Hitler will regret that nobody accepted it. PURANI: Japan declares she will help the Axis in case of reverses. SRI AUROBINDO: By telegrams? This Japan-China war seems to be interminable; each claims big successes and yet it comes to nothing. The same with the other war. PURANI: Yes, only air raids ...
... Intuition,79,245-6, 249, 264-5, 268 1914 (Silence of Mental activity), 50-1, 52-3 Involution, 257-9 1915 (Departure for France), 57 Japa,117 1916-20 (Stay in Japan), 57-64 Japan, 41, 57-62, 64 1920 (Return to Pondicherry), 64 Jiva or Jivatman, 261-2 1926(Overmental creation), 84,86-7 Junction (of body consciousness with supreme consciousness) ...
... chanced to meet one of our prominent nationalist leaders. The conversation naturally turned on the question of India's future. The leader asked him what Sri Aurobindo thought of the impetuous march of Japan. To that our friend replied somewhat like this: "There is nothing to fear; for the Japanese will not be able to come in, they will have to retire. So we have been assured by our Master." The leader's... friend ever had a chance later to remind the leader of Sri Aurobindo's prophecy. Most of our political leaders had not realised at the time how chimerical it was to hope to free India with the help of Japan, Germany or even Russia, that is, by accepting their rule which would have been simply to exchange our masters. The new bondage would have been terrible, for the neo-imperialism of their ruling cliques ...
... out of those sickening experiences. Rabindranath Tagore once invited Sri Aurobindo to dinner at his Calcutta residence, where Sri Aurobindo met Okakura, the famous artist and art-connoisseur of Japan and the great scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose of international repute. Tagore used to see Sri Aurobindo from time to time at the Sanjivani Office. Sri Aurobindo wrote a series of articles on... India, achieved national independence within a space of thirty years. Shivaji, Akbar, Ashoka as well as the Rishis of old are amongst the component parts of the Indian nation. Let us learn from Japan how to awaken the national spirit among the people by a contemplation of the heroic deeds of our ancestors. Let us bear in mind that we have a debt to discharge not only towards our ancestors, but ...
... the smell of jack-fruit or guavas. What she liked very much was: common fruits, vegetables, greens, vegetable soup, mushrooms. (54) W hen Mother went with her husband to Japan she met Rabindranath there. She said about Rabindranath that he was "a man of high culture and very refined taste." Rabindranath wanted Mother to go with him to Shantiniketan in order to take up... absurd to them!" Pavitra-da used to walk in the morning and evening. People started being suspicious. Was he a spy? Anyway, he did not find what he was looking for in Mongolia. Then he went to Japan where he took up work in a firm or a university as a chemist. He worked very well. He gained quite a reputation. A specific instance: once, while Pavitra-da was working in the laboratory there was a ...
... September 15 First instalment of The Ideal of Human Unity in the Arya. October Vasavadutta, a dramatic romance, written. 1916 The Mother leaves France for Japan. August 15 First instalments of Essays on the Gita and The Psychology of Social Development (later called The Human Cycle) in the Arya. 1917 December 15 First instalment... Death of Mrinalini Ghose in Calcutta. 1920 January 20 Letter to Joseph Baptista. April 7 Letter to Barindra Kumar Ghose. April 24 The Mother returns to Pondicherry from Japan. August 15 First issue of the Standard Bearer, a monthly published from Chandernagore under the inspiration of Sri Aurobindo; his article "Ourselves" appears in this issue. August ...
... How to find out which is the highest? Our choice is not necessarily that of the highest. Mother : Each one goes to the limit of his consciousness. I have met many persons in Europe, India and Japan practicing yoga under different masters. Each claimed that his realization was the highest, he was quite sure about it and also quite satisfied with his condition, and yet each one was standing at a... But one can know what they mean by some criterion. Mother : By what criterion? If you ask them they say "it is something wonderful but can't be described by the mind." I was with Tagore in Japan. He claimed to have reached the peace of Nirvana and he was beaming with joy. I thought : "here is a man who claims to have got the peace and reached Nirvana. Let us see." I asked him to meditate ...
... are giving them up. It is good to remember that, however unconventional the art of Europe may be for the last century, even European art had its tradition. Let us also remember that Persia, China, 1 Japan and India have had their arts—arts of long standing, and that their artistic value need not necessarily depend upon their fulfilling the standards set by the latest current fashion or theory or values... will contribute its share to the common, universal art. But before that consummation comes each regional or cultural art will have to try to assimilate the elements of other developed arts. The art of Japan, China, India, France and other countries will each contribute to the making of the art of Page 63 humanity. This will not come about by an artificial process of addition but by ...
... 816 September 15 First instalment of The Ideal of Human Unity in the Arya. October Vasavadutta, a dramatic romance, written. 1916 — The Mother leaves France for Japan. August 15 First instalments of Essays on the Gita and The Psychology of Social Development (later called The Human Cycle) in the Arya. 1917 — December 15 First instalment... Death of Mrinalini Ghose in Calcutta. 1920 — January 20 Letter to Joseph Baptista. April 7 Letter to Barindra Kumar Ghose. April 24 The Mother returns to Pondicherry from Japan. August 15 First issue of the Standard Bearer, a monthly published from Chandernagore under the inspiration of Sri Aurobindo; his article "Ourselves" appears in this issue. August ...
... mere lumber, almost a deadweight. Like the old knowledge, the new knowledge from the West too is for us mere dead-sea fruit, unassimilated and unassimilable. Brazen mimicry of England, or mimicry of Japan, - how far can this take us? "The mighty force of knowledge which European Science bestows is a weapon for the hands of a giant, it is the mace of Bheemsen; what can a weakling do with it but crush... harmonise all religion, science and philosophies and make mankind one soul. Page 197 By reaffirming the truths of Shintoism and drawing inspiration from the Vedantic teachings of Oyomei, Japan had arisen from the sleep of centuries and asserted her strength against the sprawling might of Tsarist Russia. It is India's turn to repeat - and more than repeat - that miraculous rebaptism in the ...
... different footing altogether. She had come from France to see Sri Aurobindo, and had recognised in him her Krishna, the Lord of her being and her God. Five years later she had returned, this time from Japan and bringing her friend Dorothy with her, and her feeling for Sri Aurobindo had only deepened if that was possible; and he was now more than ever the Divine Master of her Yoga. Thus the most significant... old French engineer of high intelligence and ardent aspiration arrived at Pondicherry. He was coming from a Mongolian lamasery where his spiritual search had driven him after a four-year stay in Japan. 24 He met Sri Aurobindo and narrated the story of his five-year-long quest. In the evening he met Mirra and retold the same story "perhaps a little more briefly". "I remember particularly Her eyes ...
... proposal. My work is to bring celebrated musicians from the West to India and organise their concerts in the metros here and take good musicians from India and organise their concerts in Europe, America, Japan, China, etc. After seeing your programme last night, I was greatly impressed. I have listened to the best of musicians from both the East and the West but I had never felt before the kind of spiritual... the world, which you did so beautifully in your programme. I would like to take you and your twelve participants on a world tour. We shall begin with the metros in India, then go to Europe, America, Japan, China, etc. It will be a 26-day tour after which you will all be brought back to the Ashram. The financial responsibility for this tour will be entirely mine. Your work will be simply to present Towards ...
... issue of the Arya. 1915 February 22, Mother leaves Pondicherry for France aboard the Kamo Maru. 1916 March 13, Mother embarks at London aboard the Kamo Maru for Japan. 1920 April, Mother leaves Japan. April 24, arrival in Pondicherry. November 24, Mother comes to live near Sri Aurobindo in the Guest House. 1921 January, end of the Arya. 1922 October, Sri Aurobindo ...
... which I have so long sought. "Grant, O Lord, that I may be pure enough, impersonal 28. Prayers and Meditations— The Mother. Page 380 The Mother in Japan, 1918 enough, animated enough with Thy divine love, to be able to cross it definitively. "O to belong to Thee, without any darkness or restriction!" 29 It was a meeting of two... are flush with money now, but still.... The Mother, 33. We have spoken of it in the previous section. Page 393 even after her leaving here, corresponded with Sourin from Japan in connection with these business matters. "Once for some time the Mother took keen interest in cats as a part of her work. Not only was she concerned with human beings, the animal creation ...
... Japanese nation well and was positive about that. Okawa, the leader of the Black Dragon (the one who shammed mad and got off at the Tokyo trial) told her that if India revolted against the British, Japan would send her Navy to help, but he said that he would not like the Japanese to land because if they once got hold of Indian soil they would never leave it, and it was true enough. If the Japanese had... to publish it.... ... Subsequently she met one of the chief lieutenants of Subhas, a man from Hyderabad who had been his secretary and companion in the submarine by which he came from Germany to Japan, and he recounted his daily talks in the submarine and strongly defended his action. From what he said it was evident although we still regarded Subhas's action as a reckless and dangerous folly, that ...
... 218 her religious history, 59 , 147 her Shakti, 152 see also education, materialism. politics, religion, scholarship Europeanization of India, 42, 43, 52, 59-61, 71- 72 , 86-87, 140,223 of Japan, 88, 216,218 evil, 124, 143 , 171, 182 evolution, 51, 59 , 65, 136, 189,201 ,217, 235, 254 the new evolution, 111 see al so supermind, truth Extremism, 32(fn) F fanaticism, 147, 167... 167 Islam, 32 , 44, 53, 129, 143, 158, 167, 170, 217,223 see al so Muslim Islamic culture ,168 ,179 it his a, 98(fn) J Jainism, 151 , 176 , 177 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, 156 (fn) Japan, 88, 137,202,216, 237 (fn) Japanese, 216, 218 jat, 90 Jews, 190, 242 Jinnah, 223, 224, 230, 241, 245 Judaism, 129 Judea, 137 K Kabir, 146 Kala Purusha , 91 Kali Yuga, 91 KaJi,44, ...
... Western countries and even in some Eastern ones, people sew like this, from right to left; in Japan they sew from left to right. Well, it seems quite natural to you to sew from right to left, doesn’t it? That is how you have been taught and you don’t think about it, you sew in that way. If you go to Japan and they see you sewing, it makes them laugh, for they are in the habit of sewing differently ...
... putting just the sign for ideas. Now, under outside influence, they've added phonetic signs to construct a sentence; but even now, the order in which ideas are constructed is different. It's different in Japan and it's different in China. And unless you FEEL that, you can never really know a foreign language. And so, we speak according to our old habit (but basically it's more convenient for us simply because... rules is an impediment to the evolution of expression. And from that viewpoint, French is much more backward than English — English is much more supple. But it seems that in countries such as China and Japan, which use ideographic signs, it's infinitely more supple than our languages. Surely! They can express ideas and new things much more easily by juxtaposing signs. And now, with ...
... air of one place and in the air of another. If indeed you are accustomed to have this perception of the subtle physical, you can say immediately, "Ah! This air is as in France" or "This is the air of Japan." It is something indefinable like taste or smell. But in this instance it is not that, it is a perception of another sense. It is a physical sense, it is not a vital or mental sense; it is a sense... they referred to these talks. × In the preceding talk Mother had described how on her return from Japan she had all of a sudden physically felt the atmosphere of Sri Aurobindo at a distance of two nautical miles from Pondicherry. ...
... whole political, social and economic machinery in a few years like Japan, with so little trouble, with such thoroughness and science, with the minimum of disturbance to its national economy? The phenomenon is so alien to European nature and European experience that even to this day Western observers have been unable to understand it. Japan is a "weird" nation, that is all the conclusion they can come to ...
... India and the Mongolian 01-April-1908 When Srijut Bipin Chandra Pal in his speech at the Federation Ground was speaking of the possibility of China and Japan overthrowing European civilisation, how many of the audience understood or appreciated the great issues of which he spoke? We have lost the faculty of great ideas, of large outlooks, of that instinct... Asia is the fact of the twentieth century, and in that awakening the lead has been given to the Mongolian races of the Far East. In the genius, the patriotic spirit, the quick imitative faculty of Japan; in the grand deliberation, the patient thoroughness, the irresistible organization of China, Providence found the necessary material force which would meet the European with his own weapons and outdo ...
... expression of the spiritual Page 255 through the aesthetic sense is the constant sense of Indian art, as it is also the inspiring motive of a great part of the later religion and poetry. Japan and China, more especially perhaps southern China, for the north has been weighted by a tendency to a more external and formal idea of measure and harmony, had in a different way this fusion of the... interpreted to Athens her religious ideas, her thought, her aesthetic instincts, the soul of grandeur and beauty of her culture. And in all these instances, as in others like the art and poetry of Japan and of China, a more or less profoundly intuitive creation from the depths and expression through poetic delight of the soul of a people has been the secret of this effect and this power of creation ...
... component elements are not divided from each other by a strong sense of their separate existence in the whole and the imperial aggregate in which this psychological basis of separation is still in vigour. Japan before the absorption of Formosa and Korea was a national whole and an empire only in the honorific sense of the word; after that absorption it became a real and a composite empire. Germany again would... it is no longer a self-confident European civilisation that offers its light and good to the semi-barbarous Asiatic and the latter that gratefully accepts a beneficent transformation. Even adaptable Japan, after the first enthusiasm of acceptance, has retained all that is fundamental in her culture, and everywhere else the European current has met the opposition of an inner voice and force which cries ...
... complains was herself an imperialist and colonising country through all the centuries in which Japan kept religiously within her own borders. If it were not profitable, I suppose nobody would do it. England has grown rich on the plundered wealth of India. France depends for many things on her African colonies. Japan needs an outlet for her overabundant population and safe economic markets nearby. Each is ...
... art has instinctively turned in its first inception. Unable to find a perfect model in the scanty relics of old Indian art, it was only natural that it should turn to Japan for help, for delicacy and grace are there triumphant. But Japan has not the secret of expressing the deepest soul in the object, it has not the aim. And the Bengali spirit means more than the union of delicacy, grace and strength; ...
... to carry it out with the greatest possible completeness, businesslike method, effective organisation, and the least possible waste and friction. In the history of China, no less than the history of Japan, we are likely to see the enormous value of national will-power using the moral outcome of a great and ancient discipline, even while breaking the temporary mould in which that discipline had cast society... and turning it to modern uses; we have leaders trained in the foreign discipline who do not know or believe in the force that would, if made use of, revolutionise India more swiftly and mightily than Japan was or China is being revolutionised. It is this and not internal division or the drag of old and unsuitable conditions that makes the work in India more difficult than in any other Asiatic country ...
... action and looked with a more objective consciousness, the witness-consciousness, I saw that it was simply a mixture of both persons—everything is mixed in the Subconscient.... Already when I lived in Japan there were four people I could never distinguish during my nighttime activities—all four of them (and god knows they weren't even acquainted!) were always intermingled because their subconscious reactions... when I looked closely, it became utterly amusing: two little people with no physical resemblance, yet of a similar type—small and... in short, a similarity. It's like the four men I used to see in Japan: there was an Englishman, a Frenchman, a Japanese and one more, each from a different country; well, at night they were all the same, as if viewed one through the other, all intermingled—very amusing ...
... about some reincarnations only in passing; she has said, for instance, that she had lived several times in Babylonia – ‘I have extremely precise memories, completely objective’ 7 – in Assyria, in Japan, etc. Others she has described in some detail, and from these we choose a few where the references are not subject to doubt or interpretation. Her very first incarnation in a human form was in the... repeatedly said, most of them belonged to ‘the family,’ in this and in many previous lives; they had been together with her, or with Sri Aurobindo, or with both, in India, Babylonia, Egypt, Europe, Japan, and who knows how many places more, some now covered by sand or water – but they did not remember. She did, though, and to some she told about when and where they had been together. But then she stopped ...
... the return in all Asian countries to national values and art, and vehemently opposing Western influence and political dominance. He had come to Calcutta to try to invite Swami Vivekananda to tour Japan. During his stay Okakura came in touch with the cream of Bengali society, impressing them with his black silk kimono, hand-painted fan and ever-present Egyptian cigarettes. At one meeting he told the... Bengalis of the higher castes: ‘You are such a highly cultivated race. Why do you let a handful of Englishmen tread you down? Do everything you can to achieve freedom, openly as well as secretly. Japan will assist you.’ And making clear what he meant by ‘secretly,’ he said on another occasion: ‘Political assassinations and secret societies are the chief weapons of a powerless and disarmed people, ...
... of the favourite types of garden in Japan, and has been popular since 612 A.D., when a lake and island were made in the garden of the Empress Suiko at Nara. This beautiful example illustrates how the tranquil stretch of water mirrors the pine trees on the island, as well as the graceful Pavilion.... Prabhat Kumar Poddar informed me that Mr. M.J. Patel of Japan and some others formed a group to ...
... didn't seem very old, I looked less than forty, but I was forty anyway), after no more than a month of this yoga, I looked exactly like an 18 year old! And someone who knew me and had stayed with me in Japan 5 came here, and when he saw me, he could scarcely believe his eyes! He said, 'But my god, is it you?' I said, 'Of course!' Only when we went down from the vital plane into the physical plane... × W.W. Pearson, a friend of Rabindranath Tagore, who had come from Tagore's Ashram in 1923; Mother had met him with Tagore in 1916 in Japan. ...
... the Supermind came up, I had only to resume an experience I was used to—I had learned to repeat it at will, through successive exteriorizations. It was a voluntary process. When I returned from Japan and we began to work together, Sri Aurobindo had already brought the supramental light into the mental world and was trying to transform the Mind. 'It's strange,' he Page 379 said to me... When we were in the Vital, my body suddenly became young again, as it had been when I was eighteen years old!... There was a young man named Pearson, a disciple of Tagore, who had lived with me in Japan for four years; he returned to India, and when he came to see me in Pondicherry, he was stupefied. 4 'What has happened to you!' he exclaimed. He hardly recognized me. During that same period (it ...
... totally disappear. And three-fourths of Bombay underwater! And just a while ago some volcanoes erupted, so the sea rose and swept away all kinds of things in Japan and all along its path, but it didn't come all the way to India. When I was in Japan, one island was swallowed up just like that, along with its 30,000 inhabitants, glub! You see, it amuses them; it's the way these beings amuse themselves—only ...
... poor little village in Japan where they had a flu epidemic, the first of its kind. They didn't know what it was and the whole village fell ill. It was winter, the village was snowed in and there was no more communication with the outside (the mail came only once every fifteen days). The postman arrived... and everyone was dead, buried beneath the snow. I was there in Japan when it happened. A ...
... an extraordinary organization. You can't imagine how organized it is! I think there are many of those genii of death, hundreds of them. I met at least two of them. One I met in France, the other in Japan, and they were very different. Which leads me to believe that depending on the mental culture, the education, the countries and beliefs, there must be different genii. But there are genii for all m... but do not want him or her to die, then, if you have a certain occult power, you can tell him, 'No, I forbid you to take this person.' That's something which happened, not once but several times, in Japan and here. It wasn't the same genius. Which makes me say there must be many of them.... If you can tell him, 'I forbid you to take this person' and have the power to send him away, there's nothing he ...
... ridiculous situations. I had two experiences of that kind. The first was at Tlemcen 3 and the second in Japan.... There was an epidemic of influenza, an influenza that came from the war (the 1914 war), and was generally fatal. People would get pneumonia after three days, and plop! finished. In Japan they never have epidemics (it's a country where epidemics are unknown), so they were caught unawares; ...
... Part I — Recollections and Diary Notes Champaklal Speaks Mother on Herself in Japan 1944-12-18 Showing a group photograph taken in Japan in which she is seen with Tagore and others, Mother told Sri Aurobindo: “This one is Mahalakshmi, sweet, lovable, tender, docile; beauty, harmony.... I would like to see this woman, to meet her again. I would like ...
... the second time, never to depart again. Paul Richard came with her and she was also accompanied by Miss Dorothy Hodgson, an English lady who had known the Mother in France and had stayed with her in Japan. Dorothy later came to be known as 'Dana', shortened from Vasavadatta, the name given to her by Sri Aurobindo. After staying for a few days in hotels, they moved to a rented house at 1, rue St. Martin... Aurobindo. He was a brilliant graduate of the prestigious Ecole de Polytechnique in Paris and, had he wished, could have been an engineer of the first rank. But his spiritual quest led him first to Japan and then to a lamasery in Mongolia. There also he did not find what he was seeking; so he came to Pondicherry. He met Sri Aurobindo and never left. When he was accepted as a disciple Sri Aurobindo gave ...
... below, 14 Pavitra (Philippe Baibier Saint-Hilaire), a disciple of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, passed away on 16 May 1969. A Frenchman who joined the Ashram in the 1930s, after having been to Japan, China and Mongolia in search of spiritual guidance, he was a Polytechnician and became the Director of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. He was one of the spiritual stalwarts of... school in France), which as you know is an extremely difficult course, he abandoned all the possibilities of a brilliant career and set himself on the path of self-discovery, wandering all the way to Japan and China and then to Mongolia. Finally he came to the Ashram and surrendered himself to the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. The Mother was then not active in the Ashram matters, and Sri Aurobindo ...
... where you find Japanese music and drama patronised and there are many people who like them very much. The talk then turned to the Theosophical Lodge started in Japan, which ceased functioning very soon after the founder had left Japan. Sri Aurobindo : Probably, even in the Lodge there were more foreigners than the Japanese Disciple : There were only two Japanese, one Dutch, one Pole ...
... NIRODBARAN: Everybody is astounded, for Russia is already preparing for future attacks. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, the Russian Army has marched into Lithuania and Latvia, hasn't it? NIRODBARAN: Japan is threatening Indo-China and may capture it, any time now. She won't allow Germany there. PURANI: Yes, it must have shaken the whole political structure of the world and I think everybody realises... AUROBINDO: That won't take him a long time and he won't allow our existence at all. NIRODBARAN: The British will grab Pondicherry if France capitulates. SRI AUROBINDO: If England gives in to Germany, Japan may come and drop some bombs on India. PURANI: Could it be the result of Karma that France is being defeated and overrun? SRI AUROBINDO: Of course there is past Karma, but it is not fixed. It ...
... it to be true after seeing the acceptance of such terms? How could they accept such a peace? SRI AUROBINDO: They will accept anything. If they are asked to give Morocco to Spain or Indo-China to Japan they will agree. NIRODBARAN: There is no mention of colonies in the terms. SRI AUROBINDO: That will come in the final peace terms. It is only an armistice now—unless it is left to Italy to demand... people are fed by others thoughts and writings. Very few can think for themselves. Under Italy it would be the same except perhaps with a little less thorough suppression. Under Russia too the same. Japan might allow thought and speech so long as you don't say anything offensive against the police and the State. PURANI: If France is not allowed commerce, the people will be in an awful plight. SRI ...
... not to succumb to Hitler's perfidious cunning. It is mostly due to his personality that America has turned her sympathies towards Britain. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but also helped by the misdeeds of Japan and Hitler. (Laughter) Churchill is the second great man given by his family to England at times of crises. PURANI: Some American correspondent has said that though destruction from bombing is... That's what Mona's mother has written to her. Then they accustomed themselves to the bombing. SATYENDRA: In such circumstances, people become fatalists. SRI AUROBINDO: It is like the Japanese. In Japan there is a fire every week, a typhoon each fortnight and an earthquake every month. Mother said that they go to bed quite dressed and as soon as any of these things take place, they jump out of bed ...
... grass. People began to remark: "How original! How striking!" and now he is an outstanding painter. I forget his name. (Laughter) EVENING NIRODBARAN: This arrest of a well-known Englishman in Japan on an espionage charge looks fishy. SRI AUROBINDO: Very fishy. The Japanese are showing themselves as masters and want others to submit. For espionage the British give regular training; they don't... worse things. SRI AUROBINDO: Oh yes, in the colonies they are quite different. All other Powers except the French treat their subject races alike. NIRODBARAN: But just when England is involved Japan is taking these steps. SRI AUROBINDO: People show themselves in their true colours in times of danger. PURANI (after some time): Have you seen the Masnavi by Jalaluddin Rumi? A professor from ...
... are wonderful. It will go against the Ashram. He ought to have known about Bose's activities and the consequences of his visit. NIRODBARAN: Japan is concentrating her navy towards Indo-China. SRI AUROBINDO: No, not concentrating, that doesn't matter. Japan is heading towards Indo-China. NIRODBARAN: Wants to swallow it, perhaps. Being a little hasty. SRI AUROBINDO: How? On the contrary this ...
... climate. Japan seems to have toned down. It must be due to the Anglo-American alliance regarding the Singapore naval base. SRI AUROBINDO: Obviously. Everything is getting queer. They make war without declaring war, alliance without calling it alliance. SATYENDRA: What has happened to Japan's ultimatum? SRI AUROBINDO: Modified. If this alliance takes place, it will be dangerous for Japan; for Singapore ...
... fter inquiring whether there was any further news regarding the three-Power pact and whether Japan was declared the leader of Asia or the Far East): Not that it makes any difference. SATYENDRA: It is the Far East. SRI AUROBINDO: Italy has an eye on Palestine and Hitler wants Baghdad. How can Japan be allowed the whole of Asia then? NIRODBARAN: Russia left out of the picture? SRI AUROBINDO: ...
... SATYENDRA: Yes, what has she been doing all these years? SRI AUROBINDO: No wonder she is against sending any expeditionary force to Europe. SATYENDRA: Now Japan is also threatening her. SRI AUROBINDO: America has her navy to deal with Japan. Hitler had a navy, then after defeating England he would have gone straight for America. The present state of America's army would have been a great opportunity ...
... symbolic plot, remains: Has the time come, or is it just one more botched evolution? Which assault will prevail, that of the little cell, or the other? ’ The Iridescent Light When I returned from Japan and we began to work together, Sri Aurobindo had already brought the supramental light into the mental world and was trying to transform the Mind. “It’s strange,” he said to me, “it’s an endless work... constantly has to he done all over again. ” Then I gave him my personal impression: “It will be like that until we touch bottom.” 16 Indeed, Mother had just had a vivid experience with Richard in Japan: the Mind is a perfect eel, or perhaps a chameleon; it takes on whatever color we wish, depending on taste or circumstances—actually, in a way it is right, for the Mind is made for whatever one ...
... Whole Life Mother would stay in Pondicherry almost one year, until February 1915, before leaving once again for Europe, where She would spend one last year, followed by a long four-year detour to Japan with Richard—the years of hell—before returning for good to Sri Aurobindo in 1920. I have often wondered why She did not stay with Him immediately and avoid this long circuit of pain. But Mother is... above the head; and then everything began to be seen from there. And it has never left me—you know, as a proof of Sri Aurobindo’s power it’s incomparable! A miracle. It has NEVER left me. I went to Japan, I did all sorts of things, had all possible kinds of adventures, even the most unpleasant, but it never left me—stillness, stillness, stillness. ... 24 And all this while He was talking to Richard ...
... woman to enter Lhasa. Her journey to Tibet was extremely perilous and thrilling, and she herself gave me an account of one of the incidents of this journey." In all probability, Mother heard it in Japan when they met again in 1917. "She was travelling with a certain number of fellow-travellers forming a sort of caravan." She was bound for Lhasa, in Tibet. The caravan had to go through some forests... and, on reaching camp, told them, 'Here I am.'" Mme David-Neel set out in August 1911 for the Far East. This time her journeys covered not only India, Ceylon, Burma, Indo-China, but also China, Japan, Mongolia and Korea. On her way to Lhasa during the journey from China to India, which she made entirely on foot, she explored vast tracts of Tibetan territory which no white traveller had crossed before ...
... life of the adult man. This was the great importance of the universal proficiency in the arts and crafts or the appreciation of them which was prevalent in ancient Greece, in certain European ages, in Japan and in the better days of our own history. Art galleries cannot be brought into every home, but, if all the appointments of our life and furniture of our homes are things of taste and beauty, it is ...
... as yet successful, but it may be regarded as a sure sign and precursor of a new and greater age of human achievement. The Oriental Art recognised in Europe has been principally that of China and Japan. It is only recently that the aesthetic mind of the West has begun to open to the greatness of Indian creation in this field or at least to those elements of it which are most characteristic and bear ...
... idolaters, its brazen pillar And huge seven-storied temples sculpture-fretted, And o'er romantic regions quite unknown Preach Islam, sword in hand; sell bales of spice From Bassora to Java and Japan; Then on through undiscovered islands, seas And Oceans yet unnamed; yes, everywhere Catch Danger by the throat where I can find him,— DOONYA Butcher blood-belching dragons with my blade, ...
... the Korean troops, and the active participation of the populace in the same, seem to have filled Europe with a grim gratification at the prospect of Korea being placed permanently under the heel of Japan. Europe is a worshipper of success, and we need not wonder if she is glad to see an Eastern power taking a leaf out of her book, in threatening the liberty of nations. Page 609 ...
... Daring is required. Boldness is necessary. A writer at the time of the French Revolution said, "There is nothing to be dreaded. Run forward with firm devotion, go on, rush on, push on!" In Germany and Japan there was such a rapid progress. Perhaps our attempts to bring about compromise may prove fruitless. We ought, therefore, to settle on what we have to gain or obtain. The way of the Moderates, the ...
... part of the great national yajna which we have instituted; but it is only a part and not even the chief part. Those who have never studied Japanese history, are fond of telling our young men that Japan owes her greatness to her commercial and industrial expansion and call on them to go and do likewise. Commercial and industrial expansion are often accompaniments and results of political liberty and ...
... this tactical trickery will be used. The present Conference will decide whether the two parties can still hope to work together on the basis of the compromise arrived at in December, or whether, as in Japan, a determined fight for the possession of the national mind and guidance of national action is to precede the great work of emancipation. We shall willingly accept either alternative. If we can work ...
... The East and the West Essays Divine and Human China, Japan and India It is significant of the tendencies of the twentieth century that all its great and typical events should have occurred no longer as in the last few centuries in Europe, but in Asia. The Russo-Japanese war, the Chinese Revolution, the constitutional changes in Turkey & Persia and ...
... December 1913 1 December 1913 1) The slow strengthening of the Occidental and Oriental States which have been indicated as selected nations—Persia, Turkey, Egypt, & for a time China & Japan; Ireland, France, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Chile & Peru,—the discouragement of the shakti of the others. 2) In India, (1) the amalgamation of all powers under a single control (2) the provision ...
... to be on the point of success. It still holds the mind of Europe, although the soul of Europe begins to attempt uneasily an escape from its narrowing rigidity & dryness; it has seized on Mongolian Japan & is revivifying the traditional intellectualism of China by a flood of fresh ideas, by the inspiration of a new & wider horizon; it has touched already the Mahomedan world; the political subjugation ...
... most extreme cultural and social changes. But these changes themselves must be cast in the spirit and mould of India and not in any other, not in the spirit of America or Europe, not in the mould of Japan or Russia. We must recognise the great gulf between what we are and what we may and ought to strive to be. But this we must do not in any spirit of discouragement or denial of ourselves and the truth ...
... wealth brims over to Judaea and Egypt and Rome; her colonies spread her arts and epics and creeds in the Archipelago; her traces are found in the sands of Mesopotamia; her religions conquer China and Japan and spread westward as far as Palestine and Alexandria, and the figures of the Upanishads and the sayings of the Buddhists are reechoed on the lips of Christ. Everywhere, as on her soil, so in her works ...
... India alone, with whatever fall or decline of light and vigour, has remained faithful to the heart of the spiritual motive. India alone is still obstinately recalcitrant; for Turkey and China and Japan, say her critics, have outgrown that foolishness, by which it is meant that they have grown rationalistic and materialistic. India alone as a nation, whatever individuals or a small class may have done ...
... Mother had given the name of Golconde to the building that now has that name. He told me that this building was designed by a great architect, Antonin Raymond, a friend of Pavitra's, whom he had met in Japan. It was a very fine design but money was a problem to build it. Sir Akbar Hydari, the Diwan of Hyderabad, had a great admiration for Sri Aurobindo and used to come here sometimes. Mother asked him to ...
... that the goal for the 21st century (or may be the 3rd millennium) is to Christianise Asia. Page 413 Mind you, the venue for the display of such audacity was India, not China or Japan. How can plurality disabuse itself of the all-important question of priority v. parity? Have multiple religions in Britain or Malaysia, for example, been treated equally at the official level ...
... fully in the present act, is well illustrated by the following story: A group of foreign travellers, keenly interested in spirituality, went to see the Zen Master Fudoshi during their visit to Japan. Deeply impressed by his wisdom and equanimity, one of the visitors asked him about the secret of his spiritual attainment. Fudoshi answered: "When I sit, I sit; when I stand, I stand; when I ...
... were one chair and a table with a typewriter on it. There was also, I remember, a photo of Sri Ramakrishna in the room. Four or five months earlier in the same year (1920), the Mother had come from Japan to stay here permanently. She was staying in a house close to the sea-beach. Daily, at about 4 or 4.30 in the afternoon, she would come to Sri Aurobindo carrying agarbattis, some fruits and a French ...
... On seeing the artistically designed cover of the Chinese translation of The Life Divine , Mother was specially pleased and remarked on Chinese habits and referred to their language. She said: “In Japan I had also learnt some Chinese besides the Japanese Language; but only so much as was necessary to read the Chinese signboards there.” ...
... be play to the Westerners but beware! it may well prove death to us Indians'...And so on. To that he replied, in 1945: "Discipline in itself is not something Western; in oriental countries like Japan, China and India it was at one time all-regulating and supported by severe sanctions in a way that Westerners could not tolerate. Socially, whatever objections we may make to it, it is a fact that it ...
... Hitler’s arrangement. I seem to remember Hitler made arrangements for taking Stalingrad: the result was that he has been kicked out almost entirely from old Russia. And in China, he said, Japan was going to crush China in three months, etc., etc. It doesn’t look like it; but perhaps they have confidential information? Of course I argued abortively and got annoyed in the ...
... long ago. The Mother knew very well what she was doing and what was necessary for the work she had to do. Discipline itself is not something especially Western; in Oriental countries like Japan, China and India, it was at one time all regulating and supported by severe sanctions in a way that Westerners would not tolerate. Socially whatever objections we may make to it, it is a fact that ...
... Hess was extremely interested in all aspects of occultism, and that Haushofer claimed to have the second sight and was familiar with many aspects of the traditions of the East, especially those of Japan, the close relationship between the 50 and 25 year old may be supposed to have had an occult background. The diaries of Haushofer’s wife mention from 5 June onwards a sequence of nightly absences when ...
... the war was over, life could start anew again, as could the effort to bring down the Supermind and found the future. Or could it? In June 1946, less than a year after the unconditional surrender of Japan, Sri Aurobindo wrote: “There was a time when Hitler was victorious everywhere and it seemed certain that a black yoke of the Asura would be imposed on the whole world; but where is Hitler now and where ...
... strange happened; when we were in the vital all at once my body became young again just like I was eighteen!’ told the Mother. ‘There was a young man named Pearson, a disciple of Tagore, who had been in Japan [at the same time as the Richards] and who had come back to India, and he came to visit me. When he saw me, he was stupefied. He said: “But what has happened to you?” He did not recognize me. It has ...
... photograph Sri Aurobindo and the Mother for the Photo Agency Magnum, which he had founded with war photographer Robert Capra and others. After the Mother, herself not photographed since her stay in Japan, had seen an album with work of Cartier-Bresson, he got permission to shoot freely during a couple of days in the Ashram. At his instance the Mother asked Sri Aurobindo’s permission for him to be p ...
... yogi had just arrived from Bengal and that his name was Aurobindo Ghose. In 1910 Aurobindo consented to receive him. Richard was very impressed by the encounter, so much so that later, in a talk in Japan, he would declare: ‘The hour is coming of great things, of great events, and also of great men, the divine men of Asia. All my life I have searched for them across the world, for all my life I have ...
... ‘She said in sum: students from different countries, with their different civilizations and traditions, should be given opportunities to stay in independent blocks; students from France, students from Japan, students from America – each in a separate block not demarcated by walls but by the free development of their own pattern of life, so that if any student wanted to know of the Japanese way of life ...
... a devotee of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother – she started building Golconde. The chief architect was Antonin Raymond, a Czech and student of Frank Lloyd Wright, who had accompanied his teacher to Japan in 1923 to help rebuild Tokyo after a disastrous earthquake. There he had become acquainted with Pavitra, then still Philippe Saint-Hilaire, who now recommended him to the Mother. The architects assisting ...
... "Pavitra" (meaning "The Pure"). When I first came to the Ashram he also had a fine brown Bossanquetish beard as a base to a highly intelligent and happy-looking face. After a search in the Far East — Japan and inner Mongolia — he had arrived at the Ashram a few years before me and established close contact with the Master as well as the Mother. His face kept its happy look all through — except on ...
... has shown in the lines I discussed in our last talk. Perhaps a reeling brain is the best help towards knowing such a Reality from within. What I mean is a condition of the sort the Zen Buddhists of Japan seek to impart or undergo. I don't mean the whack on the head which at times the Zen Master, in order to bring about Satori or flash of insight, gives to a disciple at the proper psychological moment ...
... little things with great, I may recount a conversation with the Mother long ago. She used to be a very fine painter. Referring to her own work, she told me: "Some of my best paintings were done in Japan. But most of them are lost." I blurted out: "Is this not a great loss? What have you done about it?" With a calm smile she said: "Don't you know that we live in eternity?" As if from a sleep I had woken ...
... thesis …” 346 Karl Haushofer, born in 1869, was a cultured military man who had become a major-general in the First World War. Earlier, he had been appointed military attaché to the German Embassy in Japan. At that time he had undertaken many travels in India, Tibet, Manchuria, China and Korea which would have a lasting influence on him. He was appointed honorary professor of geopolitics at Munich University ...
... soil will be collected on one side in order to make it look like a small mountain where there will be fir-trees. You see, in future there will be snow! When the Mother came to Pondicherry from Japan in 1920, she brought with her beautiful cards depicting tall trees and exquisite landscapes. The Mother gave these cards to me and told me that she wanted similar trees and scenery around the Pavilion ...
... is bluish white, pinkish white, creamish white etc., etc... and if you copy well you can make a very interesting harmony in whites. The image of the Buddhist Goddess Kwan-yin, called Kwan-yin in Japan, was made out of porcelain. It was milk-white and I was supposed to paint it on a white background! I thought that it was a master idea! I was confused. I went to the Mother that very morning and asked ...
... and Revolt in Poetry: "That which does allure it in the East is an amazing tininess and finesse—the delicacy, that is to say, and the deftness, and the crystalline quality of the verse of China and Japan.... The strange, the remote, in its larger, more broadly human aspects ...—all this has been gradually losing its hold upon poetry. Instead, when we fly from the obsession of the familiar, it is ...
... fall of Namur (2) in the position of the Br. [British] expeditionary force (3) in the French withdrawal from Lorraine (4) in the battle engaged at Charlevoi. (5) in the German non-reply to Japan But Aishwarya only in the Russian advance. Faith in the Kriti is now at a low ebb, & the direct relation with the Ishwara clouded. Karma. Letter to Hindu 18 — 27 August 1914 Kriti— ...
... the Stri-Parva or Book of the Woman. Sri Aurobindo broke off work on the piece without reaching the proposed subject. The title has been supplied by the editors. China, Japan and India . Circa 1912. Renascent India . 1916-18. Editorial title. Where We Stand in Literature . Circa 1916-18. Draft B was written after Draft ...
... foreign power, an insoluble question of Yugoslav and Italian, a new question of Tyrol, an Irish trouble and a Korean trouble in which the League cannot interfere without deep offence to England and Japan and which yet clamour more and more for a settlement, a Russian chaos. There is a Mahomedan world which will one day have a word to say about the new status quo . There is the whole question of Asia ...
... possible, between a resurgent Asia and the Occident. The acceptance by Europe and America of the Asiatic resurgence and the eventual total liberation of the Oriental peoples, as also the downfall of Japan which figured at one time and indeed actually presented itself to the world as the liberator and leader of a free Asia against the domination of the West, have removed this dangerous possibility. Here ...
... dissolved long ago. The Mother knew very well what she was doing and what was necessary for the work she had to do. Discipline itself is not something especially Western; in Oriental countries like Japan, China and India it was at one time all-regulating and supported by severe sanctions in a way that Page 577 Westerners would not tolerate. Socially whatever objections we may make to it ...
... it was on the ground of politics that I had come to know them and not on the spiritual ground. Afterwards only there was a gradual development of spiritual relations until the Mother came back from Japan and the Ashram was founded or rather founded itself in 1926. I began my yoga in 1904 without a guru; in 1908 I received important help from a Mahratta yogi and discovered the foundations of my sadhana; ...
... in spite of Hitler's arrangement. I seem to remember Hitler made arrangements for taking Stalingrad; the result was that he has been kicked out almost entirely from old Russia. Also he said that Japan was going to crush China in three months. It doesn't look like it; but perhaps they have confidential information? Then the day before yesterday I heard about Y's remark about the Allied paratroops ...
... able to affirm it?...You may feel in your heart, in your thought that it is not the same, but it is rather vague, isn't it? But to have this precise perception.... Listen, as I had when I came from Japan: I was on the boat, at sea, not expecting anything (I was of course busy with the inner life, but I was living physically on the boat), when all of a sudden, abruptly, about two nautical miles from ...
... December 1957 Just as the rain penetrates through the thatch of a leaking roof, so the passions penetrate an unbalanced mind. There are innumerable small Buddhist sects of all kinds, in China, in Japan, in Burma, and each one follows its own methods; but the most widespread among them are those whose sole practice is to make the mind quiet. Page 194 They sit down for a few hours in the ...
... and customs of families are not the same in every country of the world. You will find it interesting to hear from travellers or read in books or learn from your teachers about the family customs of Japan, China, Persia, Egypt, Europe and America. And you will find many differences. But in all of them, love rules in their hearts and affection is the law. It may happen that the members of a family do ...
... leading elements of their consciousness obviously belong to another. I have met some born in Europe who were evidently Indians; I have met others born in Indian bodies who were as evidently Europeans. In Japan I have met some who were Indian, others who were European. And if any of them goes to the country or enters into the civilisation to which he has affinity, he finds himself there perfectly at home. ...
... to speak of Thy sole Presence; they bring with them the smile of the Divine. My body is at rest and my soul blossoms in light: what kind of a charm hast Thou put into these trees in flower? O Japan, it is thy festive adorning, expression of thy goodwill, it is thy purest offering, the pledge of thy fidelity; it is thy way of saying that thou dost mirror the sky. And now here is a magnificent ...
... this is what I call "the propagandist spirit", and it goes very far. You can go one step further and want people to do what you do, feel as you feel, and then it becomes a frightful uniformity. In Japan I met Tolstoy's son who was going round the world for "the good of mankind's great unity". And his solution was very simple: everybody ought to speak the same language, lead the same life, dress in ...
... at that time, I didn't look old, I looked younger than forty, but still I was forty—and after a month's yoga I looked exactly eighteen. And someone who had seen me before, who had lived with me in Japan and came here, found it difficult to recognise me. He asked me, "But really, is it you?" I said, "Obviously!" Only when we descended from the vital into the physical, then it was gone, for in the ...
... case, it is not I who believe in these things! In all religious monuments, in monuments considered the most... well, as belonging to the highest religion, whether in France or any other country or Japan—it was never the same temples or churches nor the same gods, and yet my experience was everywhere almost the same, with very small differences—I saw that whatever concentrated force there was in the ...
... other things perhaps. You have forgotten it, but it will never forget that it must bring about that particular result.... For days you tell yourself: "How much I would like to go to that place, to Japan, for instance, and see so many things", and your desire goes out from you; but because desires are very fugitive things, you have forgotten completely this desire you had thrown out with such a force ...
... of morbid need for strong sensations. I don't know if you know that China is a country where the most frightful tortures have been invented, unthinkable things. Page 70 When I was in Japan I asked a Japanese, who liked the Chinese very much (which is very rare) and always spoke very highly about China, why this was so. He told me, "It is because all the peoples of the Far East, including ...
... but in close intimacy with the universal movement. The greatest nations and the most cultured races have always considered art as a part of life and made it subservient to life. Art was like that in Japan in its best moments; it was like that in all the best moments in the history of art. But most artists are like parasites growing on the margin of life; they do not seem to know that art should be the ...
... people may come from outside and begin to beg in the street. There are no police. We have... we haven't found the word... a band of guards, a battalion of guards, something like the firemen in Japan, who are gymnasts and who do everything when there are accidents—anything, earthquakes—they do everything. They climb up into houses. Instead of police, there will be a kind of battalion of guards, ...
... gave to the whole world, and you live an unforgettable moment—all that just because of a woman who knows how to walk! The second example is from the other end of the world, Page 75 from Japan. You have just arrived in this beautiful country for a long stay and very soon you find out that unless you have at least a minimum knowledge of the language, it will be very difficult for you to get ...
... will, life, self; for Him I am ready to give all my blood, drop by drop, if such is His Will, with complete joy; and nothing in His service can be sacrifice, for all is perfect delight. Japan, February 1920 Page 38 How I Became Conscious of My Mission When and how did I become conscious of a mission which I was to fulfil on earth? And when and how I met Sri Aurobindo ...
... the same technique? G: Yes, they don't work in the same way. ( To B ) Where did you learn? B: In France. H learned in Algeria, I think. And then there are those who have learned in Japan and they really know. ( General laughter ) B: There are about ten of us, Sweet Mother, practising Judo. There are as many Judos as there are people practising it. Ten is Page 317 ...
... speaking of Europe, you said that the "Old World is truly old...." Ah, look at this—yesterday someone read me a letter Sri Aurobindo wrote to Barin in April 1920, a few days before I returned from Japan. It was written in Bengali—tremendously interesting! He speaks of the state of the world, particularly India, and of how he envisaged a certain part of his action after completing his yoga. It's extremely ...
... up everything, or else man—ruthless man abusing the Power. In fact, I have seen this all over the world. I have never been on very good terms with religions, neither in Europe, nor Africa, nor Japan, nor even here. ( silence ) At the age of eighteen, I remember having such an intense need in me to KNOW.... Because I was having experiences—I had all kinds of experiences—but my surroundings ...
... you can slip through the mesh from time to time to breathe some air. But here, according to what I've learned from people and what Sri Aurobindo told me, it's absolutely unbearable (it's the same in Japan, absolutely unbearable). In other words, you can't help but smash everything. Over there, you sometimes get a breath of air, but still it's quite relative. And this morning I wondered ... (you see, ...
... date for the creation of our Ashram, could it be said from the true occult point of view that the Ashram was born with the Mother's arrival? The Ashram was born a few years after my return from Japan, in 1926. 17 April 1967 Page 361 The Lord told You: "One day thou wilt be my head but for the moment turn thy gaze towards the earth." 4 Sweet Mother, what does "thou ...
... for two days and went back. But then, he sent us the sermons he had given since his return, and in one of them he recounts his "spiritual journey," as he calls it (a spiritual journey through China, Japan, Indochina, Malaysia, Indonesia, and so on up to India). What shocked him most in India was the poverty—it was an almost unbearable experience for him (that's also what prompted the two persons who ...
... by the Dutch painter). × Anniversary of Mother's second coming to Pondicherry, after her stay in Japan. ...
... late forties, a handsome man, lean and tall—he stood over 1 m 90 in his socks. A veteran of World War I, he left all his bright prospects for an adventure into the unknown. First of all he went to Japan, then to a monastery in Mongolia as a Lama, from there he sailed for India, and landed at Pondicherry in December 1925. He never left. Pavitrada's assistant Mrityunjay Mukherjee was a graduate ...
... keyboard in such a way that it's very hard to use the typewriter. But it's international, isn't it? Yes, but they have tried to "improve" on it. Ah!... It was the same thing when I was in Japan, all that they were taught they would "improve" on—it would become absolutely unworkable! After the American occupation, they understood. ( silence ) "One" is wondering if, really, it won't be ...
... a terrestrial mental region, open to the higher influences. It seems to interest you, especially in certain details. Last night, it involved the countries of the Far East, particularly China and Japan. You were there with me. We were trying to do some good work and to bring about a rapprochement. The details were picturesque and interesting but too long to narrate. .......... Don't worry about ...
... time I used to go to the place where the events in the various countries of the world are prepared—you were there, too. And you seemed to be very interested. There were goings-on between China and Japan, and it was very funny because one could see events, people with quite unexpected costumes and Page 160 all sorts of things, ways of life and so on, and it didn't correspond to an active ...
... opposite: what's needed is (how can I put it?) to breathe wisdom and peace into the body, not to deaden it. Page 44 Yesterday evening, something amusing happened. I received some soups from Japan. It was all written in Japanese, impossible to read. When the doctor came (he comes every evening), I asked him, "Would you like to try a Japanese soup?" And I gave him a packet to take with him. Yesterday ...
... has always considered eating as tiring. Yes. Someone who understands! ( As if "by chance," Satprem reads Mother an old conversation, of January 24, 1961 , on the influenza epidemic in Japan during World War I. ) Page 259 And the best part of the story is that they've never had that type of influenza since. The Japanese are receptive people. They've learned so much from ...
... things, I have seen thousands of them! Only, as it happens, for more than half a century I have sensed the difference in a most sharp way. I think I told you already that when I returned here from Japan, there were difficulties: once, I was in danger and I called Sri Aurobindo; he appeared, and the danger went away 2 —he appeared, meaning, he came, something from him came, an EMANATION of him came ...
... after I saw you last time), for a whole day I had exactly the sensation you've just told me. I suddenly remembered sensations or impressions or experiences I had when I was here or there, in France, in Japan, and I had that impression... yes, of a thinning down, a shrinking to the point of nonexistence. Yes, exactly. Absolutely nonexistence. And I wondered, "But where is that person I used to call ...
... in Sweden, lots of people in Italy, many in Germany; in France... it's beginning—a little bit! ( Mother laughs ) In the U.S.A., it's good, it's working well, and in Canada it's doing well. Even in Japan there are people .... Page 468 × Aphorism 68 —"The sense of sin was necessary in order that man might become ...
... the body." (November 12, 1931, Cent. Ed., 25.315 ) × Mother may be thinking of the epidemic in Japan in January 1919, during which she very nearly died, while the fever caught during the festival of arms was in 1931. ...
... nothing has been done. I've never heard Pavitra complain about it! ( laughter ) I see Pavitra very often, almost every night. Maybe he likes it that way. Even last night I saw him: he was in Japan. When did they leave? Amritada left on January 31, 1969 and Pavitrada in May, May 16. Oh, Pavitra left after. You know, time and me.... Pavitra is here, he's very active, he stays near ...
... totally cut off from life and earth. Nobody in his senses denies they have some connection with life and earth: the Japanese sea-scapes have surely something to do with the expanses of water around Japan, Turner is closely related to English sky-effects and Venetian lights, while Rembrandt is "realistically" linked with many aged and poor Netherlanders. Yet the problems and realities presented are ...
... the turning-point in the Battle for Britain. August 15 can also be considered the beginning of peace after World War II, though not the peace Hitler had intended to initiate on that day; for Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945. And, seeing that peace once more was broken by North Korea's invasion of the South and what was in appearance a civil war but really the first violent stroke by Communism ...
... The end of March and the beginning of April 1942 are memorable for one of the very few interventions of Sri Aurobindo in India's public affairs. World War II was in full swing and Japan had joined hands with Hitler and posed a threat to Burma and even India, both of which were then under British rule. There was considerable discontent in India and a great reluctance to join the war ...
... whole-heartedly the side of the British and their allies in World War II and regarded Hitler as the instrument of a demonic force and set his own spiritual power working against him and later against Japan. Nair, unable to fathom the fact that, as a line in Sri Aurobindo's Savitri puts it, Our life is a paradox with God for key 12 and unable to follow the varying steps of an intuitive guidance ...
... down] in this body. Child, you can also go anywhere you like. The Mother advised me how I should write the passages from Savitri : This pen I sent you is not Indian made. It comes from Japan. If you want to write for me it must be with this size felt and this size letters: Savitri I wrote to the Mother: And she replied: You can write on both sides - it ...
... Herald had this to say: "He is undoubtedly the greatest figure in the Parliament of Religions. " After the Parliament he toured the United States and later visited England, Europe, China and Japan. He won many followers, a good number of whom came to be with him in India. He made a second trip abroad in 1899. But his strenuous schedules ever since his days as a wandering sannyasin had affected ...
... months in Brixton Prison because he quotes a "confidential" report on the use of American troops against strikers. 1920 — Visit to Russia. 1921 — Visit to China and Japan. Lectures in Pekin. 1922-23 — Labour Candidate for Parliament. 1924-31 — Several lecture tours in the United States. 1938-44 Stays in ...
... staff of the London Daily Telegraph as a journalist. He is best known for his book The Light of Asia, a blank verse epic about the life and teaching of Buddha. In his later years, he lived in Japan. Edwin Arnold had great admiration for the epics of India. He writes, "There exist two colossal, unparalleled, epic poems in the sacred language of India, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana... ...
... occult things. I read one of them but found nothing of Yoga there. NIRODBARAN: Yes, I have read two by A. Beck. SRI AUROBINDO: Is that a woman? NIRODBARAN: Yes. She has written a novel about Japan also, where she attributes to Japanese Jiu-jitsu some mystic power and makes it a symbol of it. SRI AUROBINDO: I thought that Japanese spirituality is in the Japanese religion which is called Zen ...
... that all people had once a keen perception of beauty. For example, take pottery or Indian wood-carving which, I am afraid, is dying out now. Greece and ancient Italy had a wonderful sense of beauty. Japan, you know, is remarkable. Even the poorest people have that sense. If the Japanese produce anything ugly, they export it to other countries! But I am afraid they are losing their aesthetic sense because ...
... that Jinnah's demands are unreasonable. That may be the British Government's view too. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, the Times is their official organ. PURANI: There is a reason too. It seems Russia and Japan are trying to come to a settlement. In that case they may have designs on India. Even if the Muslims combine with the Congress, still another difficulty remains—that of the Princes. SRI AUROBINDO: ...
... and in time you will be virtually independent. Besides, it is the best option under the present conditions in contrast to charkha and non-violence. Hitler won't give it, neither will Mussolini nor Japan. Stalin may give autonomy but controlled from Moscow. Moreover, the first thing he will do will be to cut off the industrialists and middle class and establish a peasant proletariat. NIRODBARAN.: ...
... mobilisation because of the general confusion everywhere. Nogue's army does not want to surrender and in Syria the army is dissatisfied. They want to continue the fight and an invasion of Indo-China by Japan is imminent. PURANI: Applying the Monroe Doctrine? SRI AUROBINDO: But you can't dispossess them of their colonies by that Doctrine. America too has her colonies. PURANI: America may not like ...
... elsewhere. If there were actual engagements, there wouldn't be any Italian navy left to keep the British navy engaged. Italy knows this very well. NIRODBARAN: Britain seems to be mediating between Japan and China. SRI AUROBINDO: That is what the Governor of Malaya says. If true, he shouldn't have said it. After this there was an interval in which Satyendra, Champaklal and Purani were talking ...
... standing for higher values doesn't make for victory. Look at Poland and Czechoslovakia. Perhaps you may say Poland made many mistakes, but wasn't Czechoslovakia absolutely blameless? SATYENDRA: Japan has now openly declared her aim and policy toward Indo-China, the Dutch East Indies and the South Sea Islands. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but let China be settled first, though there is no sign of settling ...
... resist now, there may be some chance. Otherwise it is the end of Indo-China. PURANI: Yes. Besides, the Chinese have announced that they will resist Japan's claim. So they can combine. NIRODBARAN: Japan is following the Russian policy. First base, then government. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, change of government by the Left and then "you". SATYENDRA: The British have quietly withdrawn their forces from ...
... 1940-contd Talks with Sri Aurobindo 5 AUGUST 1940 PURANI: I was reading Okakura's book on Japan. He says that even if the Japanese have to be Westernised to protect their independence, they will go to that length. SRI AUROBINDO: Being Westernised won't serve. As you say, the Western nations lost their independence. EVENING Champaklal and Purani ...
... pattern, all are interrelated, interlocked, inspired by a common breath and move from one end of the earth to the other. They seem to be but modulations of the same world-theme. A pulse-beat in Korea or Japan is felt across the Pacific in America and across that continent, traversing again, Page 209 the Atlantic it reaches England, sways the old continent in its turn and once more leaps ...
... 151 Irish Renaissance, 152 Ishwara, 4 Inquisition, the, 123 Isis, 220 Islam, 55-6, 110 Israel, 219 Italy, 89, 244 JANAKA,396 Japan, 70, 160,209 Jayachand,9O Jeanne d'Arc, 90 Jeans, Sir James, 317-18, 332-3 -Physics & Philosophy, 317n Jehovah, 220 Johnson, Samuel, 212 Junkerism ...
... Then I showed him my note book for that date (there was something written for each day). Five thick notebooks, year after year.... Even here I kept on writing for a while. I wrote a lot in Japan. Anyway, everything of general interest was kept. But that's why there are gaps in the dates, otherwise it would be continuous—it was monumental, you know! (.Mother's Agenda, Vol. 3, pp. 346-7) ...
... and designs, silver plates, glasses with embossed patterns on them, and ivory curios; fragrant sandalwood items, all kinds of brassware, colourful carpets, carved furniture, tall porcelain jars from Japan and China, vases and other rare pieces; also exquisite objects in cut crystal-glass, and other artistic and beautiful things. There were also the Mother's own dresses which she had worn before she came ...
... Kodandaraman, (9) Mrs. Kodandaraman, (10) Champaklal, (11) Punamchand, (12) Champaben, (13) Saiyen, (14) Kshitish, (15) Tirupati, and (16) Manmohan. In the meantime the Mother had come back from Japan and joined Sri Aurobindo in his Tapasya aimed at the divine transformation of human nature and life. One Miss Dorothy Hodgson, for many years a companion of the Mother, came with her and joined Sri ...
... and the superfluous surplus of its wealth brimmed over Judea and Egypt and Rome. India's colonies spread Indian arts, and epics, and creeds in the Archipelago; Indian religions conquered China and Japan and spread westwards as far as Palestine and Alexandria. In the ancient architecture, sculpture and art, India laboured to fill every rift with ore, occupy every inch with plenty. This was because of ...
... Mother does not know that they are laxative or cooling—it has an energising effect. Perhaps it is effective for tamasic people—it is doubtful if it helps piles. It is taken like that largely in Japan, but it is not supposed there to cure piles. August 30, 1937 As for S, we have exhausted our means. One thing remains—liver extract which I have withheld till now. You can try that—since ...
... you pumped into him a lot of force. Napoleon had a lot of force pumped into him also. Even then these personalities had the stratagems of war and current politics at their finger-tips, like Japan which is reaping a golden harvest out of European tangles. If I could say that about R in his field, then all my doubts regarding his drug-effect wouldn't arise... Please remember that R has studied ...
... estate in Algeria. In 1914 she visited the city of Pondicherry, which was at that time a French colony, in South India, and met Sri Aurobindo. She returned permanently to Pondicherry in 1920 via Japan and China, and when Sri Aurobindo "withdrew" from outer contact in 1926 to devote himself to the "supramental yoga", she collaborated with him and at the same time organized and developed the Ashram ...
... you wanted to envelop it 1 'Concentration' — Euphorbia milli , crown of thorns 2 'New Birth' — Oreganum marjorana , sweet marjoram Page 112 The Mother in Japan, 1918. Page 113 with your hypnotic look. Then you will see that you begin to have a relation with this point and that nothing exists around. Only the point exists, and you are drawn ...
... known as Annus Mirabilis, a year of seminal importance—the sowing of the seed of a new earth-life—significant for the whole human race, for the East and for the West, particularly for India, for Japan, for Russia and even for England. And today's world has indeed become a world of compact unity in human achievement and also, alas, in human distress! Now if one goes to the very source, the ...
... pattern, all are interrelated, interlocked, inspired by a common breath and move from one end of the earth to the other. They seem to be but modulations of the same world- theme. A pulse-beat in Korea or Japan is felt across the Pacific in America and across that continent, traversing again Page 99 the Atlantic it reaches England, sways the old continent in 1 its turn and once more leaps ...
... —not static or abstract, but of the dynamic kind,—uniformly, successful in making out of their work-a-day, life, even to its smallest accessories, a flawless object of art. It is a wonder to see in Japan how, even an unlettered peasant, away in his rustic environment, chooses with unerring taste the site of his house, builds it to the best advantage, arranges everything about it in a faultless rhythm ...
... 217-18, 222, 226, 228-9, 231, 235, 239, 244, 250, 253, 255, 257, 259-61, 267-9,274,276,.280-1,284,289-92, 297-8 Indra, 13, 22, 28, 42, 44-5, 180 Iqbal, 62n Isaiah, 118 Italy, 253 JAPAN, 228, 253 Jeanne d'Arc, 192 Jerusalem, 115, 122-3 Joyce, 88 Jouve,216-17 Judas, 120 Jung, III Juno, 182 Jupiter, 108, 180 KALI, 24n., 218 Kalidasa, 39, 85, 98, 176, 181 ...
... land of unhealthy need for strong sensations. Do you know, China is a country where they have invented the Page 73 most atrocious kinds of torture, unthinkable ways? When I was in Japan I asked a Japanese who liked the Chinese very much, why it was so. He told me: 'It is because the people of the Far East, including the Japanese, possess very dull sensibility. They feel very little; ...
... Indo-China, 324 Indra, 208, 253 Indus Valley, 133 Ingres, 429 Inquisitors, the, 99 Iphigenia, 246 Iran, 46 Isaie, 394 JACOB, 397 Jagai-Madhai, 65, 73 Janaka,21 Japan, 421 Jeanne d'Arc, 116, 118, 198 Jehovah, 46, 98 Jung, 134-5, 139, 147 Jupiter, 25 KALI, 383 Kalidasa,210 Kant, 137, 139, 389 Kanwa, Rishi, 151 Kinnara, 47 Krishna, 9, 58 ...
... harmony and beauty; it is a kind of unhealthy need for strong sensations. Do you know, China is a country where they have invented the most atrocious kinds of torture, unthinkable ways? When I was in Japan I asked a Japanese who liked the Chinese very much, why it was so. He told me: 'It is because the people of the Far East, including the Japanese, possess very dull sensibility. They feel very little; ...
... study the philosophies of Pythagoras and Plato. But we do not delve into the spiritual culture or esoteric aspect of which their philosophies are but outer expressions. Behind the mythologies of China, Japan, old-world America and Australia there lies a science of spiritual discipline which may not ¹ Katha, 11.1.10. Page 87 be recognised by the scientists, but those practising ...
... since been the inspiration for many a subsequent imitation. Let me in this connection tell you another amusing story. One day there came to the Post Office a packet addressed to the Mother from Japan. It was war time and the rules were very strict, leg. any kind of undesirable matter should find entry. One of the Post Office employees, a Frenchman, opened the packet in my presence. He found in it- ...
... hard up in those days – not that we are particularly affluent now, but still... The Mother kept up a correspondence with Saurin in connection with these business matters even after she left here for Japan. At one stage, the Mother showed a special interest in cats. Not only has she been concerned with human beings, but the animal creation and the life of plants too have shared in Page 496 ...
... life bereft of all freedom, Who would care so to live? or, In this land of India there are thirty crores of men, And the foreigner rules here supreme! and, China is awake, Japan is awake, But India persists in her sleep. In sheer desperation, the poet had exclaimed: Unless the women of India are wide awake, This land of ours will never awaken. Page 321 ...
... since been the inspiration for many a subsequent imitation. Let me in this connection tell you another amusing story. One day there came to the Post Office a packet addressed to the Mother from Japan. It was war time and the rules were very strict, lest any kind of undesirable matter should find entry. One of the Post Office employees, a Frenchman, opened the packet in my presence. He found in ...
... board the ship and escort him to the Ashram. The Mother welcomed him at the door of Sri Aurobindo's apartments and led him to Sri Aurobindo. Tagore already knew the Mother, for both were together in Japan and stayed in the same house and she attended some of his lectures in that country. It may be interesting to mention here that Tagore requested the Mother to take charge of the Visva Bharati, for evidently ...
... consciousness and delight. Not only that, but you can also have a communication with them—then you know what they mean. One of the Mother's prayers is very fine, in which she says that when she was in Japan, she saw that the trees were rising up because they wanted to open themselves to the higher Light. They were trying to aspire to the Light, and it was the expression of their aspiration that this upward ...
... present, but from the long forgotten past. Forms have rushed from Greece, from Italy of the Renaissance, from France of the 19th Century, from the East; memory has awakened sleeping forms of China, Japan and India. From this drab world of everyday I am transported to another world—a world of beauty—beauty which is the highest attribute of the Supreme. This is the great service that art renders to man ...
... of compliments. She was much impressed with the tidiness, cleanliness., and the beauty in the Ashram. (Then addressing Sri Aurobindo she said) She is not much more than a tourist. She is going to Japan to study with Suzuki. She has much admiration for genius, probably because genius does not require finance. Here the topic changed : Page 180 ...
... aeroplanes are not of sound material, or that the pilots Page 163 are not well-trained? If he says only that much, that does not give any knowledge. In the fight between Russia and Japan in the frontier, the Japanese admitted that the Russian artillery was remarkable, it does not miss the mark but the infantry is not good; for when they got very good opportunity they did not take advantage ...
... arms. Disciple : How? Sri Aurobindo : There is a prophesy among the Sannyasis and also Lele used to tell us that there is no chance of freedom by fighting. Disciple : Italy or Japan can come to help India. Sri Aurobindo : That is not so easy. Naval equipment is not enough; without a strong army it is very difficult to conquer India. Disciple : Congress ministers ...
... the same with all other modern things – the press, the theatre, the radio ; they drag down everything to the level of the crowd. Disciple : But the radio and telephone are a great success in Japan and in Europe ; one can listen to the best musicians for four to six hours. Sri Aurobindo : But in America they do not know whether it is cinema that is helping crime. Of course, they want to ...
... Paroles d’autrefois [ Words of Long Ago ]. From time to time She would humorously recount incidents from Her own life. She recounted so many stories from so many different countries: India, Persia, Japan, China, France and several others. The stories came alive because of the Mother’s way of narrating them. We felt as if we were living in the country where the story was taking place. All these memories ...
... complained to me that they should not be plucked at odd times.” The poor sadhak who wanted to pluck the roses and offer them to Her was terribly embarrassed. Similarly when the Mother was in Japan and would go to pluck carrots or some such vegetables a few among them would cry out: “Pluck me! Pluck me!” And those that were not ready would exclaim: “Don’t pluck me!” Isn’t it extraordinary ...
... December. Manindra Naik, a representative from Chandernagore in the Legislature in Pondicherry, met Sri Aurobindo. 26 December. Phillippe Barbier Saint-Hilaire (later known as Pavitra) arrived from Japan. A letter from Swamaprabha. 1926 1 and 25 January. Talks on Theosophy. 26 January. Talk on art and Vaishnavism. 28 January. Talk on art. Sri Aurobindo said: "Really speaking I got my ...
... years, we calculated, and for me it was doubly interesting that the event was taking place in the house where I was staying. In fact, as it was learnt later, Mother had left Andre' in Paris in 1916 for Japan. He was a student then and they were meeting after 33 years. Mother had wished to be present at Golconde in the afternoon a little before the scheduled arrival of Andre, and the visitors staying ...
... the sake of these few huts in the middle of red lands cracked by the sun? The Grace sent a man to help us, just when I was despairing. This man is Sir C.P.N. Singh, a former Indian Ambassador to Japan and Nepal, an old friend and confidant of Pandit Nehru and Indira Gandhi’s adviser. He happened to visit the garden: I met him, I took his hands, without saying a word. He understood. He wrote to ...
... One lakh = 100,000 rupees. × 6 Sir C.P.N. Singh, a former Indian ambassador to Nepal, then to Japan, was a close collaborator of Pandit Nehru's and an intimate adviser of Indira Gandhi. After Mother's departure, he helped greatly to protect Satprem against the attacks of the Ashram trustees. He ...
... Britain declared war against Germany. The First World War had begun. Germany and Austria on the one side, and on the other, Russia, France and Britain were engaged from almost the very outset, with Japan to come in on 23 August on the side of the latter. And, as if in a counterblast to the entire sanguinary holocaust itself, from obscure Pondicherry, was launched on 15 August the Arya . Page ...
... Claimed the monopoly of the battered ear; A deafened acquiescence gave its vote, And braggart dogmas shouted in the night ... 2 Mussolini's Italy was behind Hitler, and so was Japan. The Western powers - Britain, France - were tense with anxiety and apprehension. President Roosevelt of U.S.A. felt deeply concerned, but could do little. Stalin's Russia was enigmatic, impassive ...
... feeling of his that made him choose me, an unknown face till then for him, from the middle of the crowd, for a picture of the Mother, a picture I have always cherished. It is one of her photos taken in Japan. The association that started then, grew into a happy lifelong brotherhood. Of course he was my elder by a decade, but I respected him, not merely because he was my elder, but because of his ...
... symbolic of the ardour of the inner aspiration, the magical response of Grace, and the opening of the psychic bud petal by petal, and the progression towards full efflorescence. Remembering her days in Japan, the Mother experimented in flowerarrangement in her room at night, and this was not a means of relaxation, but was always charged with a purpose. Flowers were psychic links between soul and Soul ...
... are concerned mainly with the education of children in their homes and the school. Education, a life-long process, begins in fact even before birth. As the Mother had said in her talk to the Women of Japan, a great deal depends on the aspirant mother's own tapasya during the long months of pregnancy. She now reiterates that any aspirant mother should see that "her thoughts are always beautiful and pure ...
... path, and guided her in her travels in Europe and Africa and Asia. On 29 March 1914 she had found at last what she had been seeking, and Sri Aurobindo was indeed the Lord of her being and her life. In Japan between 1916 and 1920 she had completed her 'education', and the Japanese feeling for colour and form, their passion for precision and detail, had fused with her French intellect with its clarity and ...
... diaries of 1912 to 1919, and five prayers of a later date. Vol.2 Words of Long Ago: Writings before 1920: Early essays. Transcripts of talks given in 1912 to seekers in Paris. Essays written in Japan between 1916 and 1920. Tales of All Times: stories for children. And other writings. Vol.3 Questions and Answers. Oral answers to questions about Yoga raised by disciples in 1929 and in 1930-31 ...
... the costume of a vision.” Mathematician, painter and pianist, she befriended Gustave Moreau, Rodin, Monet and married a painter whom she later divorced. She then married a philosopher who took her to Japan and China, at the time when Mao Tse-tung was writing “The Great Union of the Popular Masses”, and on to Pondicherry to stay by Sri Aurobindo. For thirty years she lived beside him who at the dawn of ...
... efficient, clearest (and rare) assistants in this laboratory. Sri Aurobindo called him Pavitra, “the Pure one.” 100 He was also an eminent chemist, and it seems that in 1923, in the laboratories of Japan, where he had arrived just after Mother's departure, he discovered an astonishing way to release the atomic energy of most common metals (especially copper and aluminum), which would have made the atomic ...
... several people, to make it very clear that they represent a state of consciousness and not an individual. It's far more often a state of consciousness than an individual. 11 Already when I lived in Japan there were four people I could never distinguish during my night time activities—all four of them (and god knows they weren't even acquainted! ) were always intermingled because their subconscious reactions ...
... The Mother 26 August 1933 I am sending you back the Japanese bridge that you have painted, along with two models of bridges. Generally these bridges in Japan are lacquered. The colour on the post card is exact . I have seen that famous bridge at Nikko. I will ask you to send me back the post card when you have finished as it is part of a collection. ...
... behind. She married Richard in 1910 and settled in on rue du Val-de-Grace, near the Luxembourg gardens, on the edge of the Latin Quarter. She was thirty-two. Their marriage, with many detours through Japan and India, would last until 1920, when Mirra settled down definitively in Pondicherry: Ten years of intensive mental studies leading me to ... Sri Aurobindo. A mental : development of the most complete ...
... Togo destroyed the Russian Fleet in May. Asia had successfully challenged the mastery of Europe! "Prof. Ghosh, as our acting Principal, declared a prize in an essay-cum-debate competition on 'Japan and the Japanese'........ "We became ardent revolutionaries. We talked of Garibaldi and the French Revolution, and hoped to win India's freedom by a few hundred drachms of picric acid. "I remember ...
... and six months of publication. Of course, Richard was there for the first seven months, and then he left in the last week of February 1915. We don't know whether he helped any after his return from Japan towards the end of April 1920. That leaves seventy-one months of Arya to Sri Aurobindo, "all by my lonely self." How did he write them? He wrote to Nirod on 1 st November 1935: "Let me remind ...
... Asuras, Devas are leaping forth into the arena of the world. We have seen the slow but mighty rise of great empires in the West, we have seen the swift, irresistible and impetuous bounding into life of Japan. Some are Mlechchha Shaktis clouded in their strength, black or blood-crimson with Tamas or Rajas, others are Arya Shaktis, bathed in a pure flame of renunciation and utter self-sacrifice : but all ...
... Another had started his walk through Time. His walk outstripped the human stride. A radical change in the earth-consciousness was his Page 5675 Mother before leaving Japan to return to India ...
... "as a proof of Sri Aurobindo's power, it's incomparable! I don't believe there has ever been an example of such a—how can I put it?—such a total success: a miracle. It has NEVER left me. I went to Japan, I did all sorts of things, had all possible adventures, even the most unpleasant, but it never left me--stillness, stillness, stillness...." Her voice trailed off. "And it was he who did it, ...
... for that one purpose no special kind or form of education is needed, since the training to good citizenship must be in all essentials the same whether in the east or the west, England or Germany or Japan or India. Mankind and its needs are the same everywhere and truth and knowledge are one and have no country; education too must be a thing universal and without nationality or borders. What, for an ...
... large antique religious types unsubmerged by the flood of modernism and its devastating utilitarian free thought. India, he tells us, still clings to what not only the Western world, but China and Japan have outgrown for ages. The religion is a superstition full of performances of piety repulsive to the free enlightened secular mind of the modern man. Its daily practices put it far outside the pale ...
... the greatest proofs that there can be of the value and soundness of a national culture. Indian culture in this respect need not fear any comparison: if it is less predominantly artistic than that of Japan, it is because it has put first the spiritual need and made all other things subservient to and a means for the spiritual growth of the people. Its civilisation, standing in the first rank in the three ...
... Indian were to set about the same task in the same spirit, he would no doubt similarly pour out an interminable list of Indian names with some great men of Europe and America, Arabia, Persia, China, Japan forming a brief tail to this large peninsular body. These exercises of the partial mentality have no value. And it is difficult to find out what measure of values Mr. Archer is using when he relegates ...
... publicly the Cripps' offer and to press the Congress leaders to accept it. He had not, for various reasons, intervened with his spiritual force against the Japanese aggression until it became evident that Japan intended to attack and even invade and conquer India. He allowed certain letters he had written in support of the war affirming his views of the Asuric nature and inevitable outcome of Hitlerism to ...
... past. It is a great pity that people who have carried such ideals into practice are losing them through contact with European civilization. That is a great harm that European vulgarizing has done to Japan. Now you find most people mercantile in their outlook and they will do anything for the sake of money..... (A disciple:) Has European civilization nothing good in it? It has lowered ...
... Mahatma Gandhi. 1920 - Sri Aurobindo turns down several offers to return to British India and to active politics. 1920, April 24 - Mother returns to Pondicherry from Japan. 1920, Aug.1 - Lokmanya Tilak passes away. 1920, October - Dr. B. S. Munje pays a visit to Sri Aurobindo. 1920, Dec. - Nagpur session of the Congress; ...
... most extreme cultural and social changes. But these changes themselves must be cast in the spirit and mould of India and not in any other, not in the spirit of America or Europe, not in the mould of Japan or Russia. We must recognise the great gulf between what we are and what we may and ought to strive to be. But this we must do not in any spirit of discouragement or denial of our-selves and the truth ...
... Questions and Answers (1950 - 1951): 8 March 1951 In all religious monuments, in monuments considered the most… well, as belonging to the highest religion, whether in France or any other country or Japan—it was never the same temples or churches nor the same gods, and yet my experience was everywhere almost the same, with very small differences—I saw that whatever concentrated force there was in the ...
... wealth brims over to Judea and Egypt and Rome; her colonies spread her arts and epics and creeds in the Archipelago; her traces are found in the sands of Mesopotamia; her religions conquer China and Japan and spread westward as far as Palestine and Alexandria, and the figures of the Upanishads and the sayings of the Buddhists are re-echoed on the lips of Christ. Everywhere, as on her soil, so in her ...
... material points, I am speaking of all the depths. So when you say as many do, "Ah! If that were not there in the world, how fine the world would be", you are displaying your ignorance. I met in Japan one of the sons of Tolstoy; he was going round the world preaching human unity. He had caught this from his father and was going everywhere in the world preaching human unity. I met him at some friends' ...
... all, will, life and self; for Him I am ready to give all my blood, drop by drop, if such is His Will, with complete joy; and nothing in His service can be sacrifice, for all is perfect delight. Japan, February 1920 Page 170 ...
... there are thousands of statues of the Buddha. There is the Buddha as he is known in India, the Buddha known in Ceylon, the Buddha known in Tibet, the Buddha known in China, in Cambodia, Thailand, Japan and elsewhere. If you are speaking of the historical fact, I think they would all tell you that it is to the Gautama Buddha of India they pray, but in fact, each one of these branches of Buddhism, and ...
... those around one to be not what they are but what one would like them to be—one can form an ideal for oneself and want to apply it to everybody, but... This reminds me of Tolstoy's son whom I met in Japan and who was going round the world in the hope of bringing about unity among men. His intentions were excellent, but his way of doing it seemed less happy! He said with an imperturbable seriousness that ...
... for that one purpose no special kind or form of education is needed, since the training to good citizenship must be in all essentials the same whether in the East or the West, England or Germany or Japan or India. Mankind and its needs are the same everywhere and truth and knowledge are one and have no country; education too must be a thing universal and without nationality or borders. What, for an ...
... therefore a great realised fact. Mere academical teaching of patriotism is of no avail. The professor may lecture every day on Mazzini and Garibaldi and Washington and the student may write themes about Japan and Italy and America without bringing us any nearer to our supreme need,—the entry of the habit of patriotism into our very bone and blood. The Roman Satirist tells us that in the worst times of imperial ...
... 07 The twentieth century dawned on a rising flood of renascent humanity surging over Asia's easternmost borders. The first report of it reached the astonished world in the victorious thunder of Japan. And it spread onward, this resurgent wave of human spirit, swiftly, irresistibly, overflooding in a sweeping embrace China, India, Persia and the farther West. India received the ablution of the holy ...
... are not only Indian but Asiatic, not only Asiatic but worldwide. They cannot do away by force with these opinions, these emotions, these developments unless they first trample down the resurgence in Japan, China, Turkey and Persia and reverse the march of progress in Europe and America. Neither can they circumvent the action of natural forces which are not moved by but move the Indian political leaders ...
... come out of the West. Asia on the other hand is full of interest in Brahman and she is therefore the cradle of every great religion. Christianity, Mahomedanism, Buddhism and the creeds of China and Japan are all offshoots of one great and eternal religion of which India has the keeping. India's Mission So with India rests the future of the world. Whenever she is aroused from her sleep, she gives ...
... tasks. The period of passivity when she listened to the voices of the outside world is over. No longer will she be content merely to receive and reproduce, even to receive and improve. The genius of Japan lies in imitation and improvement, that of India in origination. The contributions of outside peoples she can only accept as rough material for her immense creative faculty. It was the mission of England ...
... Angelo, architecture more utterly beautiful than the Taj Mahal, the Parthenon or Borobudur or St. Peter's or of the great Gothic cathedrals? The same may be said of the crafts of ancient Greece and Japan in the Middle Ages or structural feats like the Pyramids or engineering feats like the Dnieper Dam or inventions and manufactures like the great modern steamships and the motor car. The mind of man ...
... down the barriers of existing nations and empires. 3 Page 404 × If the ambitions of Italy, Germany and Japan and the Fascist idea generally had triumphed, such an order of things might have eventuated. × The ...
... connected by every apparent tie, are actually divided by stronger antipathies than those more ideative and less actual which separate them from peoples who have with them no tie of affinity. Mongolian Japan and Mongolian China are sharply divided from each other in sentiment; Arab and Turk and Persian, although one in Islamic religion and culture, would not, if their present sentiments towards each other ...
... n of powers, have always tended to fare ill in the battle of life, even if they have not shared the fate long endured by Italy and Poland in Europe or by India in Asia. The strength of centralised Japan, the weakness of decentralised China was a standing proof that even in modern conditions the ancient rule holds good. Only yesterday the free States of Western Europe found themselves compelled to suspend ...
... which I would never think of using. The use of prepositions is one of the most debatable things, or at least one of the most frequently debated in the language. The Mother told me of her listening in Japan to interminable quarrels between Cousins and the American Hirsch on debatable points in the language but especially on this battlefield and never once could they agree. It is true that one was an Irish ...
... the Ignorance into the light. The difficulty about the Pitris is that in the Puranas they are taken as the Ancestors to whom the tarpan is given—it is an old Ancestor worship such as still exists in Japan, but in the Veda they seem to be the Fathers who have gone before and discovered the supraphysical worlds. European Resistance to the Idea of Reincarnation But that [ the idea of reincarnation ...
... 1915 1) The vision (in Samadhi) of the Theosophical Path on the table, fulfilled next day. Suggestion of importance—fulfilled by solution of the Vedic Rishi-idea by example of Bodhi-sattwas in Japan. 2) The waking drishti of the cigarette on the table. Suggestion of certain fulfilment by exceptional means. Found on floor. 24 April 1915 Anandam Brahma confirmed in its final generality. ...
... met you when she first came to Pondicherry. How is it then that the 24th April 1920 is considered to be the day on which Mother saw you first? The 24th April is the day on which Mother came from Japan to Pondicherry finally—not the day of her first seeing me. On the 29th March she came first from France, that visit lasting till February of the next year. 19 March 1936 Page 39 ...
... meeting with Sri Aurobindo. But even before she caught sight of him she must have entered the ambience of his presence at Pondicherry. For we know how, six years later when returning by sea from Japan and drawing closer to the town, she had the occult experience as of a great light shining from some centre in it. Now, in 1914, she was soon face to face with the centre. And when she saw Sri Aurobindo ...
... Petals on a wet black bough. But, interestingly, Pound's little poem — Pound's penny of a poem, if we may put it punningly — has in part of its mood an affinity to the very first extant haiku of Japan, dating from the early thirteenth century — namely, of Fujiwara no Sadaiye: Chiru hana wo Oikakete yuku Arashi kana. (A fluttering swarm Of cherry-petals — then comes, Chasing ...
... result worked out by a bitter and selfish struggle between upper class and lower class, Labour and Capital, is one thing; the harmony created by a mighty enthusiasm, such as led the aristocracy of Japan to lay down their exclusive privileges and, without reserve, call upon the masses to come up and share their high culture, their seats of might and their ennobling traditions, is quite another. Hindu ...
... turning down this offer is dated 30 August 1920. Mirra Richard (The Mother) and Paul Richard participated in some if not all the sessions. (See especially item [9].) They returned to Pondicherry from Japan on 24 April 1920. Richard left Pondicherry in December of the same year. A PPENDIX . M ATERIAL FROM D ISCIPLES ' N OTEBOOKS The pieces in this Appendix have been transcribed ...
... Europe is becoming stereotyped and unprogressive; she is fruitful only of new & ever multiplying luxuries and of feverish, fiery & ineffective changes in her political and social machinery. China, Japan and the Mussulman States are sliding into a blind European imitativeness. In India alone there is self-contained, dormant, the energy and the invincible spiritual individuality which can yet arise and ...
... instinctive persistence and reverence with which old names and formulas have been preserved while the thing itself was profoundly modified until its original sense remained only as a pious fiction. Thus Japan kept its sacrosanct Mikado as a cover for the change to an aristocratic and feudal government and has again brought him forward in modern times to cover and facilitate without too serious a shock the ...
... It's like that famous Nirvana—you can find it behind everything. There's a psychic nirvana, a mental nirvana, even a vital nirvana. I think I already told you about the experience I had with Tagore in Japan. Tagore always used to say that as soon as he started meditating he entered Nirvana, and he asked me to meditate with him. We sat together in meditation. I was expecting to make a very steep ascent ...
... nothing, nothing, nothing, absolutely obtuse. It's very kind, but written by someone who understands nothing.... I will tell you the thing: between my first and second visits here, while I was away in Japan and Gandhi was starting his campaign, 4 he sent a telegram, then a messenger, to Sri Aurobindo here, asking him to be president of the Congress—to which Sri Aurobindo answered "No." Those people ...
... him my notebook for that date (there was something written for each day). Five thick notebooks, year after year.... Even here I kept on writing for a while. Page 346 I wrote a lot in Japan. Anyway, everything of general interest was kept. But that's why there are gaps in the dates, otherwise it would be continuous—it was monumental, you know! It's only here that people started wanting ...
... in 1904, in Paris. Then she went to Tlemcen in 1905 and again in 1906. × When Mother returned from Japan in April 1920. × The first Prayers and Meditations date from November 1912 , but there may have ...
... asked the Mother to select two people to give talks on Sri Aurobindo in connection with his Birth Centenary year; one to go to the East and one to go to the West. Sisir Kumar Ghosh was chosen to go to Japan and other Eastern countries and the Mother chose me to go to the West. I asked the Mother. “Why me? I am not a speaker on philosophy.” Then Mother said, “I have chosen you, so you must go!” The Mother ...
... houses with small gardens around them. They were situated at different places in harmony with nature; some were on top of the hill, while some were down below. I remember the Mother once said that in Japan she had seen that they do not just build the houses anywhere but set them in a harmonious blending with nature and have a garden around them. The plants are also grown in a natural way, everything in ...
... Pavitra (Pure), name given by Sri Aurobindo to Phillipe Barbier St. Hilaire who settled here in 1925. He fought in the First War in the French artillery, then lived in Japan and Mongolia among Buddhist monks. × Moni, pet name of Suresh Chandra Chakravarti. Sri Aurobindo sent ...
... 4 December 2010, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Sri Aurobindo’s passing. ) “The time is very serious” 2 In June 1946, less than a year after the unconditional surrender of Japan, Sri Aurobindo wrote: “There was a time when Hitler was victorious everywhere and it seemed certain that a black yoke of the Asura would be imposed on the whole world; but where is Hitler now and where ...
... only how to live in a world of stereotyped thought and customary action.’ 25 The reader of these words sees passing before his inner eye the world of Chinese emperors and warlords, the traditional Japan of shoguns and samurai, the India of maharajas, sultans and nizams: the whole colourful but burned-out East of the traditions. When an Indian at the time asked the Mother the question: ‘How is India ...
... knowledge orally, sometimes in English, more often in French. But Sri Aurobindo and the Mother had “the same path from the beginning”. In 1920, when Mirra Richard and her husband Paul returned from Japan to India, “the Yoga was waiting for the Mother to continue”, wrote Sri Aurobindo. It was on the Mother’s advice that he and she descended from the supramentalised Mind into the Vital and then, in a ...
... birthday, 15 August, a week after the outbreak of the Great War. In February of the next year the Richards were forced to leave Pondicherry. At first they went back to France and then proceeded on to Japan, where they stayed for four years. This meant that “Sri Aurobindo Ghose”, as his name read on the Arya covers, now had to write the journal single-handed. In it he published simultaneously all his ...
... camp, staging many shows of “everlasting” friendship with the Third Reich but also often making denigrating remarks about the Germans and their Führer, who to him was something like an epigone; and Japan seemed fully tied down in East Asia. Now is the world for his eating a ripe fruit. His shadow falls from London to Korea. Cities and nations crumble in his course. A terror holds the peoples ...
... planned conquest of India, documents reveal’ and dated 21 June 1986, was published the next day in the Indian Express. According to the documents on which this report is based, Germany, Italy and Japan had signed an agreement, in January 1942, on the division of the spheres. Hitler counted on a quick defeat of Russia to invade, in the spring of the same year, West Asia, which would then serve as a ...
... that of the spirit no matter how high the stakes are. Apropos, I am reminded of a striking remark of Lowes Dickinson, the famous rationalist who, after touring the Far East, wrote that neither Japan nor China was incomprehensible to the Western mind: it was only in India that he had been held up as before something utterly alien, even terrifying, to the Occident! And that is precisely why Pundit ...
... large or small, rich or poor. The same malaise has more or less equally affected all the peoples of the earth. There is no peace anywhere. Even in the midst of plenty as in America, West Germany and Japan, there is a growing feeling of the uncertainty of tomorrow and people are almost panic-stricken at the thought of what lies in store for them in the near future, for peace is indivisible. Add to ...
... calls himself civilsed." How prophetic he had been was amply attested within a few years when, after the fall of Dunkirk, England stood alone for a whole year against the triple alliance of Germany, Japan aid Italy while Russia stood by, having made that infamous pact with Hitler. But in those days (before 1939) — with Hitler sill in the offing — we ignored him, the more because we disliked the British ...
... on Russia, and two days later on France; on 4 August German troops invaded neutral Belgium and Britain declared war on Germany; on 12 August Britain and France declared war on Austria; on 23 August Japan declared war on Germany … The German armies seemed irresistible. Their right flank quick-marched towards the Channel ports while their left flank pushed straight towards the heart of France. The ...
... ‘all the realizations he had, I had too, automatically.’ But now it was Sri Aurobindo who remained ‘hidden,’ as he said ‘to work things out,’ and the Mother who moved in front. We remember how, in Japan, she defined the role of women as primarily executive and organizational, mirroring the role of the Great Executrix who manifested, organized and supported the worlds. And as always – for instance when ...
... The Spirit of Auroville A letter dated 17.6.74 came from Mr. M.J. Patel of Japan: Hutaben, I was delighted to have received your letter since long together with the book on Matrimandir containing originals of Mother's letters to you in connection with your role in it. All know very well that you are a fondled child of Mother and are closely following ...
... in the overall work. Of course this will imply regularity, steadiness and a great sincerity. You would have to work eight hours a day regularly except Sundays. The architect, who is arriving from Japan in a few days, will give you all the instructions required for the work. Tell me what you think of it, and whether I can put your name on the list of workers. 1 February 1938 I am happy with ...
... some people may come from outside and begin to beg in the street. There are no police. We have... we haven't found the word... a band of guards, a battalion of guards, something like the firemen in Japan, who are gymnasts and who do everything when there are accidents―anything, earthquakes―they do everything. They climb up into houses. Instead of police, there Page 261 will be a kind of ...
... for 1967. He did not give me any further details about this war, except to say that the countries which will suffer the most will be the countries of the North and the East, and he cited Burma, Japan, China and Russia. He said rather categorically that Russia would be swept away and that America would triumph. 2) X gave me certain details about his powers of prediction, but perhaps it would be ...
... indefinitely. I know why I gave no explanations as I was speaking: because of the intensity of the experience. There is something like it in Prayers and Meditations . I remember an experience I had in Japan which is noted there.... ( Mother looks through 'Prayers and Meditations' and reads a passage dated November 25, 1917 : ) 2 Page 217 'Thou art the sure friend who never fails, the ...
... a proof of Sri Aurobindo's power it's incomparable! I don't believe there has ever been an example of such a (how can I put it?)... such a total success: a miracle. It has NEVER left me. I went to Japan, I did all sorts of things, had all possible kinds of adventures, even the most unpleasant, but it never left me—stillness, stillness, stillness... And it was he who did it, entirely. I didn't even ...
... Page 403 we stood talking (we were going out, it was in the afternoon), when suddenly, hop! we jumped out of our skin, both of us. 3 We knew what it was because we had gotten used to it in Japan. I said, "Oh, an earthquake." It didn't last—a few seconds and it was over. I had completely forgotten it, and it was as if one of those beings came to bring the memory back, with at the same time, ...
... wanted (I kept a few, which I extracted and distributed), and as for the rest ... It was a long, long time ago, I was still living over there. 1 The last time that I wrote, was after my return from Japan, that is, in 1920. In 1920 I still wrote a little, then stopped. Then Sri Aurobindo chanced upon it, and he told me it had to be published. I said all right, I made a selection, and what to do with ...
... conversation of May 10, 1967 (Amenhotep). × In 1920, when Mother sailed back to Pondicherry from Japan. Mao Tse-tung was writing The Great Union of Popular Masses at the time. ...
... special sort of flower—I arrange all that), and in the vases, some flowers say, "Me!" And indeed they are just what I need. They call out to me to say, "Me!"...But that's not new, because when I was in Japan, I had a large garden and I had cultivated part of it to grow vegetables; in the morning I would go down to the garden to get the vegetables to be eaten that day, and some of them here, there, there ...
... what a beautiful forest, mon petit! They must be the forests of... It's between the subtle physical and the vital, as if joining the two—the subtle physical to the vital. Trees as I have only seen in Japan; trees rising straight like columns, planted in rows—magnificent! With light-colored grass, very light, pale green. Grass on the ground, air—lots of air—and at the same time nothing but trees: a forest ...
... hundred years old! It's downstairs, in the cupboard.... But this is a letter opener. It's, oh, very, very old: I had it in France before coming here, I brought it with me when I came here; I took it to Japan and used it there [to open Sri Aurobindo's letters], and I brought it back here. So it must be... I had it at the beginning of the century—it's much older than you! Do you want it? To open letters. ...
... studio is still unrealised. After the Mother had appointed me the Ashram's flower-painter she presented me with drawing-books and a paintbox, as well as small drawing-pads she had brought from Japan, made by a firm styled "Bumpodo". Every week she would look at my work. I got an insight into her way of judging from the remarks she made. There were paintings which 1 thought I had done very efficiently ...
... Ayub Khan's seizure of power. × In April 1942, when England was struggling against the Nazis and Japan, which was threatening to invade Burma and India, Churchill sent an emissary, Sir Stafford Cripps, to New Delhi with a very generous proposal which he hoped would rally India's goodwill and cooperation ...
... important. The rest doesn't matter! ( Mother laughs and so does Satprem ) × May 7, 1945, in Europe and August 15 in Japan. × We find it worthwhile to publish here a letter Mother wrote (in English) to Prithwi Singh, Sujata's ...
... very, very strongly. When I left here [in 1915], as I got farther away, I felt as if emptied of something, and once in the Mediterranean, I wasn't able to bear it any longer: I fell ill. And even in Japan, which outwardly is a marvelous country—marvelously beautiful and harmonious (it WAS, I don't know what it is nowadays), and outwardly it was a joy every minute, a breathtaking joy, so strong was the ...
... August 21, 1965 ( Regarding a Playground Talk of March 17, 1951 , published in the latest "Bulletin," in which Mother says that when she returned from Japan in 1920, she felt Sri Aurobindo's atmosphere two nautical miles away from Pondicherry: ) It appears that in 1958 we said one thing and that this time we said another, so they ask me which is correct ...
... fine, it's excellent for humanity), but this Flame, the Flame of transformation, is something else. Oh, I Page 311 remember now that Sri Aurobindo reminded me of something I had written in Japan (which is printed in Prayers and Meditations ), and I had never understood what I had written. I always tried to understand and asked myself, "What the devil did I mean? I have no idea." It had come ...
... That's why even when it's in an "incomplete" stage, it's good. For instance, there are passages I wrote in those Prayers and Meditations , some of which have been published—passages I wrote in Japan, and when I wrote them, I didn't at all know what they meant. For a very long time I didn't know. And very recently, one of those things that had always remained mysterious cleared up, I said, "There ...
... of radiation. It's a violent liberation of something contained in Matter. Like radiation. And it spreads out. They have indeed noticed it, but they don't want to know: when they exploded the bomb in Japan, the consequences went much, much farther than they expected, they were infinitely more serious and long-lasting than expected, because the sudden liberation of those forces... They only perceive a ...
... had worked the night before, and that's how it happened—we knew ALL THE DETAILS. We never told this, of course, but it was perfectly precise. But I knew that being, I had already seen him in Japan—he called himself "the Lord of Nations." And he really was a form of the Asura of Falsehood, that is, of Truth which became Falsehood: the first Emanation of Truth, who became Falsehood. And he hasn't ...
... as flower-painter. As the only artist or the sole apology for one, I got many favours from the Mother. She heaped me with drawing materials. She brought out the sketching-pads she had collected in Japan from a stationer with that most musical of names: "Bumpodo." (laughter) I got paint-brushes and, I think, crayons too. Every morning, after the Pranam, I had to hurry home and paint my flower while ...
... Pondicherry, South India, to meet the Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo. After a stay of eleven months, she was obliged by the outbreak of the First World War to return to France. A year later she went to Japan, where she remained for four years. In 1920 the Mother rejoined Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry. Six years later, when the Sri Aurobindo Ashram was founded, Sri Aurobindo entrusted its material and spiritual ...
... the meeting with Sri Aurobindo. But even before she caught sight of him she must have entered the ambience of his presence at Pondicherry. For we know how, six years later when returning by sea from Japan and drawing closer to the town, she had the occult experience as of a great light shining from some centre in it. Now, in 1914, she was soon face to face with the centre. And when she saw Sri Aurobindo ...
... expected to be called.” Mother: “Now you see what she got!” × Poet and artist Hirasawa Tetsuo whom Mother knew in Japan. Hirasawa visited the Ashram in 1924. ...
... English food is very heavy. I had an experience of it when I was there in England during the War.” 1 × On her way to Japan in 1916, the ship Mother travelled in went first from France to England because the Mediterranean was a war zone. Civilian ships going to Asia had to go round Africa. ...
... Today she has sent me these pictures. I find it delicate to receive them; delicate also to return them. What is the best thing to do? You must accept—there is no objection, as it is the custom in Japan to make presents like that; to return them would not be at all proper. 21.4.1938 Sri Aurobindo ...
... known as Sri Aurobindo and the Mother? 1 After the outbreak of the World War I in August, 1914, the Mother had to return to France along with Paul Richard and then she spent four years in Japan; but she returned for good to Pondicherry in 1920 in order to work with Sri Aurobindo. On 24th November 1926, Sri Aurobindo attained to a decisive stage and the Overmind was brought down into Matter ...
... and the superfluous surplus of its wealth brimmed over Judea and Egypt and Rome. India's colonies spread Indian arts, and epics, and creeds in the Archipelago; Indian religions conquered China and Japan and spread westwards as far as Palestine and Alexandria. In the ancient architecture, sculpture and art, India laboured to fill every rift with ore, Page 445 occupy every inch with plenty ...
... On Himself, SABCL, 1971, Vol. 26, p. 459) After the outbreak of the World War I in August, 1914, the Mother had to return to France along with Paul Richard and then she spent four years in Japan; but she returned for good to Pondicherry in 1920 in order to work with Sri Aurobindo. On 24th November 1926, Sri Aurobindo attained to a decisive stage and the Overmind was brought down into ...
... France to India, and met Sri Aurobindo for the first time on March 29. She realised that her work was identical with the work of Sri Aurobindo. She spent one year in Pondicherry and then four years in Japan and returned to Sri Aurobindo for good in 1920 via China. She organised and developed the Ashram as also its International Centre for Education. After Sri Aurobindo's passing in 1950, she guided experiments ...
... in Algeria. In 1914 she visited the city of Pondicherry, which was at that time a French colony, in South India, and met Sri Aurobindo. She returned permanently to Pondicherry in 1920 via Japan and China, and when Sri Aurobindo "withdrew" from outer contact in 1926 to devote himself to the "supramental yoga", she collaborated with him and at the same time organised and developed the Ashram ...
... reality, we can appreciate how Zen can be useful to those who aim at perfecting the art and science of education. Zen developed first in China, but it matured to a high degree of excellence in Japan. It is believed that Bodhidharma of India founded Zen in China. It is said that when he came to China he simply declared, "'Directly pointing to one's own soul, my doctrine is unique, and is not hampered ...
... mind and body. Their methods are embedded in a conception of human nature that sees the development of unusual capacities as accessible to everyone. The concept of unusual energy is basic to them. In Japan it is called ki, in China ch'i, in India prana. Like yoga, the martial arts teach methods for deliberately tap ping exceptional energy. Some writers use the word intrinsic to differentiate this ...
... studies of today are concentrated on issue of economic activity, on latest technologies of communication and processing of information, on developing markets and commercial competition among USA, Japan, EEC, China, and newly industrialising countries. If science were not developed as it has today, if modern warfare did not require the high level of scientific and technological efficiency as today ...
... a leading citizen of Pondicherry, Richard met Sri Aurobindo and they had wide-ranging discussions on two occasions. These meetings had a profound impact on Richard. Some years later when he went to Japan, he declared before an audience: 'The hour is coming of great things, of great events, and also of great men, the divine men of Asia. All my life I had sought for them across the world, for all my life ...
... ruffians and blackguards, without God, tradition and dynasty. If you read Essays on the Gita, you'll see what type of non-violence it preaches. You can, by your common sense, know what Japan would have done if the whole country lay prostrate - they'd have wanted nothing better than that! Here is a story of non-violence that Sri Ramakrishna used to tell: One day, a sadhu 39 was ...
... several instances of minor eruptions that took place in various towns of Tamil Nadu. A book published in 1859 - The History of the Indian Revolt and Expeditions to Persia, China and Japan, written by George Todd - narrates this incident: 'The 8th Cavalry was ordered to march from Bangalore to Madras and then embark for Calcutta. On arriving at a place about 25 miles from Madras on ...
... which had the overwhelming support of the people. Nor could it have resisted a unanimous demand for a change at the centre, a demand which would have been all the more irresistible after the entry of Japan into the war. It is clear that but for the resignation of the Congress Ministries, Jinnah and the Muslim League would have never attained the position they did.1 Another serious long-term ...
... Humanity in the modern age plays its great role in Europe. So to come into contact with Europe is to become modern – to take one's seat at the forefront in the theatre of the world. Thus it is that Japan has become modern in Asia. And China lagged behind for want of this contact. In India it was the Bengalis who first of all surpassed all others in adopting European ways. That is why their success and ...
... Life and Self-Control (A Letter) THERE is no doubt that Europe knows very well the art of life which in our country is totally lacking. In the East it is only Japan that knows it and knows it well enough. Our country on the whole and most of the East is at present steeped in inertia. You have asked me the exact meaning of control of the senses and what is its ...
... Regimentation can be said to be the very characteristic of the order, the regimentation of a pack of wild dogs or wolves. A particular country, nation or race—it is Germany in Europe and, in her wake, Japan in Asia—is to be the sovereign nation or master race ( herrenvolk); the rest of mankind—other countries and peoples—should be pushed back to the status of servants and slaves, mere hewers of wood ...
... very hard up in those days—not that we are particularly affluent now, but still...The Mother kept up correspondence with Sauren in connection with these business matters even after she left here for Japan. At one stage, the Mother showed a special interest in cats. Not only has she been concerned with human beings, but the animal creation and the life of plants too have shared in her direct touch ...
... Sri Aurobindo argued out with overwhelming force the possibility of the supramentalisation—the divinisation—of man and Nature and the earth. In 1920 Madame Richard returned from a prolonged visit to Japan, and finally settling down in Pondicherry assumed the general control of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. It was perhaps during the later twenties that Sri Aurobindo decided to give his Savitri ...
... 56, 77 Hamlet 10, 23, 38 Hebrides 103 Hecate 77 Homer 27 Horatio 23 I Ind 92 India 76, 78, 89, 91, 98, 104 Indra 31 Ionian 52 J Japan 92 Jeanne d'Arc 48 Jules Romains 39 Jules Supervielle 55 Juno 34 Jupiter 32 Jouve 76, 77 K Kali 78 Kalidasa 17, 18, 27, 32 Kanhu 83 Kanwa ...
... happen to me". It is a superstition spread all over the world, but it has no spiritual value. I have been to holy places. I have seen monuments considered as very highly religious, in France, in Japan and elsewhere; they were not always the same kind of temples or churches nor were they the same gods but the impression they left on me, my experiences of them were everywhere almost the same, with ...
... board the ship and escort him to the Ashram. The Mother welcomed him at the door of Sri Aurobindo's apartments and led him to Sri Aurobindo. Tagore already knew the Mother, for both were together in Japan and stayed in the same house and she attended some of his lectures in that country. It may be interesting to mention here that Tagore requested the Mother to take charge of the Visva Bharati, for ...
... Leninian or a Hitlerian gospel on an Indian soil'. It is not desirable nor is it truly possible. If, however, we take a right about turn and look away from the West to the Far East, we already see in Japan a different type of national self-government. It is based on an altogether different basis which may appear even novel to the modern and rationalistic European mentality. I am referring to the conception ...
... different times, starting with tribal life (Red Indians, present day aborigines, Eskimos, nomads of Arabia), then proceeding with ancient Egypt, India, China, Pre-Colombian civilizations, Greece, Rome, Japan and other countries at various epochs. The heuristic work of the work-sheets will be carried out with the help of pictures, and a book or two (encyclopedias). The documentation may also include a few ...
... Regimentation can be said to be the very characteristic of the order, the regimentation of a pack of wild dogs or wolves. A particular country, nation or race—it is Germany in Europe and, in her wake, Japan in Asia—is to be the sovereign nation or master race ( Her-renvolk ) ; the rest of mankind—other countries and peoples—should be pushed back to the status of servants and slaves, mere hewers of wood ...
... of the Polytechnic School, arrived at Pondicherry on the 17th of December, 1925, having come from a Mongolian lamasery where his spiritual search had driven him, after his having spent four years in japan. He never left Pondicherry again, where he lived for forty-four years in the service of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. He left his body on May 16, 1969. These brief conversations were noted from memory ...
... Ecole Polytechnique with a degree in engineering. After serving in the army in the first World War and working briefly as a junior engineer in Paris, he set out on a spiritual quest that led him to Japan, China, Mongolia, and finally India. There in Pondicherry in 1925 he met Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and remained with them for the rest of his life. In 1951 the Mother appointed him director of the ...
... or do after that? If there is corruption at the upper levels of society then anarchy prevails and there can only be the oppression of the weak. This isn't limited to our country alone. Even Japan which at one time upheld the ideal of truth and honour and law is in a similar situation. Bribes, paybacks and other immoral practices are encountered everywhere. Eight Japanese prime ministers so ...
... The child can very well gather it by himself if his mind is trained. Perfect liberty would be desirable for the child. I would not like any hard things to be brought into the child's experience. In Japan, it seems, the child is free when it is young and, as it grows and reaches the college, discipline tightens. Disciple : But the sum total is the same whatever the method. Sri Aurobindo ...
... giving people such training and they know every town, every street in France and England. In the Kaiser's time, it is said, he knew even the location of trees in some places. Now it is more thorough. Japan and Germany are the most thoroughly organised countries. EVENING SATYENDRA: Some people here say that nothing happens without the sanction of the Divine Will and that nothing happens against Sri ...
... Germany. NIRODBARAN: But if France does not defend Paris? SRI AUROBINDO: Then he will not destroy it immediately. The unfortunate thing is that all are tied to modern civilisation—even China and Japan. NIRODBARAN: If Americans had come in! PURANI: They ought to have come in four months ago. SRI AUROBINDO: Everybody has realised what German rule will be like. You have seen what an Irish minister ...
... Leninian or a Hitlerian gospel on an Indian soil. It is not desirable nor is it truly possible. If, however, we take a right about turn and look away from the West to the Far East, we already see in Japan a different type of national self-government. It is based on an altogether different basis which may appear even novel to the modern and rationalistic European mentality. I am referring to the conception ...
... – not static or abstract, but of the dynamic kind – uniformly successful in making out of their work-a-day life, even to its smallest accessories, a flawless object of art. It is a wonder to see in japan how, even an unlettered peasant, away in his rustic environment, chooses with unerring taste the site of his house, builds it to the best advantage, arranges everything about it in a faultless rhythm ...
... NIRODBARAN: I wonder if Stalin has made a secret pact with Hitler. SRI AUROBINDO: That is what all suspect. But what will be the value of any such pact if England is defeated? Then Italy, Germany and Japan will all turn on Russia. NIRODBARAN: How, if Greece and Turkey together put up resistance to Hitler? SRI AUROBINDO: That would be an effective check. England could come in with her air and navy ...
... SATYENDRA: The Muslim League has also refused. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. Jinnah wants to know what the League's status will be in case some other party comes in later. He means Congress! It is like the Berlin-Japan pact—by some other power they mean the U.S.A. SATYENDRA: Jinnah has realised that the Viceroy doesn't want to part with power. SRI AUROBINDO (laughing): To the Muslim League? No! The Government ...
... tampered with the text of the Gita. PURANI: No, they have done so with the Ramayana and the Mahabharata but not the Gita. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. EVENING PURANI: America and Russia will check Japan in her imperialist policy in the East. SRI AUROBINDO: It seems they are not willing to go to war. They only want to help China so far. Somebody writing about Egypt says that it is the British ...
... Regimentation can be said to be the very characteristic of the order, the regimentation of a pack of wild dogs or wolves. A particular country, nation or race-it is German,y in Europe and, in her wake, Japan in Asia – is to be the sovereign nation or master race (Herrenvolk); the rest of mankind – other countries and peoples – should be pushed back to the status of servants and slaves, mere hewers of ...
... some time get that egocentric outlook. Mrs. R writes, "What has Nakas come to? He is writing to us, 'Do this, do that' and keeps finding fault with us in our work." Of course, they were quarrelling in Japan too. PURANI: We had a hard tussle with Gandhi's followers over the question of morality, etc. They think that going beyond the dualities of the world is immoral. All that does not correspond to their ...
... America. Have you seen Roosevelt's statement? The French paper reports that it has not appeared in the English papers. Roosevelt has said that if the dictators become too powerful in Europe and Japan in Asia it will be the end of America. She will be attacked from both the Atlantic and the Pacific. They will begin trouble first in Latin America and then in North America. There are many Germans and ...
... vague. Does he mean that the aeroplanes are not made of sound material or that the pilots are not well trained? If that is all he says, he doesn't give any information. In the war between Russia and Japan, the Japanese admitted that the Russian artillery was remarkable: it didn't miss the mark; but the infantry was not so good, for when they got a good opportunity they failed to take advantage of it ...
... the way Hitler would settle first with Russia, then proceed to Asia and then to India. SATYENDRA: Russia may not like Japan's collaboration with the Axis. SRI AUROBINDO: Privately she won't. Japan wants to make a non-aggression pact with Russia as Germany did. But she has nothing to offer Russia while Germany gave Russia a free hand in the Baltic and half of Poland. EVENING SRI AUROBINDO: ...
... happen to me." It is a superstition spread all over the world, but it has no spiritual value. I have been to holy places. I have seen monuments considered as very highly religious, in France, in Japan and elsewhere; they were not always the same kind of temples or churches nor were they the same gods but the impression they left on me, my experiences of them were everywhere almost the same, with ...
... known as Annus Mirabilis, a year of seminal importance – the sowing of the seed of a new earth-life – significant for the whole human race, for the East and for the West, particularly for India, for Japan, for Russia and even for England. And today's world has indeed become a world of compact unity in human achievement and also alas, in human distress! Now if one goes to the very source, the very ...
... present. Ramananda was another. NIRODBARAN: Ramananda has now joined the Hindu Movement. EVENING SATYENDRA: China is also threatening Indo-China! SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, in case they allow Japan to use any ports. PURANI: It seems Italy has launched an attack against British Somaliland and Egypt. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but not against Egypt. It is evident that the British have a very insufficient ...
... Hohenzollerns, the, 338 407 Page 407 ILA, 189 Ilion, 399 India, 32, 106, 143, 196, 269, 289-90, 338, 357, 361 Indra, 275, 371 Italy, 196 JACOB, 121 Japan, 54, 78, 196 Job, 305 Jupiter, 328 KALI, 80, 249, 297 Kalidasa, 278, 390-1 – Hero and the Nymph, 390 – Vikramorvasie, 39 1n Krishna, 134, 183, 206-7, 350 228, 297, ...
... already in the making. 20 All the time the Ashram was expanding its activities in many directions. From the ends of the world-America, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, China, Tibet - the seekers came, and being accepted by the Mother remained in the Ashram. The Mother gave them all "work" - work that would bring to objective perfection what was inside them. The inner ...
... launching L'Idée Nouvelle, 405; Radha 's Prayer, 407; learning Sanskrit and Bengali, 407; departure for France, 407; illness at Lunel, 408; correspondence with Sri Aurobindo, 408ff; departure for Japan, 410; "India is free", 522; second coming to Pondicherry, 525-6; moving with Datta to Sri Aurobindo's house, 526; orderly management of the house, 5401; installing Sri Aurobindo as Master and Lord of ...
... of 1912 to 1919, and five prayers of a later date. Volume 2 — Words of Long Ago. Writings before 1920: Early essays. Transcripts of talks given in 1912 to seekers in Paris. Essays written in Japan between 1916 and 1920. Tales of All Times: stories for children. And other writings. Volume 3 — Questions and Answers. Oral answers to questions about Yoga raised by disciples in 1929 and ...
... year's stay in France, however, was punctuated with illnesses - and unexpected realisations - and then, with a sudden turn of the kaleidoscope, there was a preordained change of scene, and she went to Japan with Richard. Four years there, and as we saw, four years of warm friendships and enriching new experiences - the Okhawas, Tagore, the Kobayashis, Dorothy, Zen, 'still-sitting', flowers, tea, flu! But ...
... 27:424 34. SA 27:434 35. SA 27:428-29 36. SA 27:429 37. SA 27:470 38. SA 27:453 39. SA 27:472 40. ET : 17 41. SA 27:477 42. PPF :7 11. Passage to Japan 1. Life :158,159,166 2. MO 1:313 3. MO 4:319 ' 4. SA 26:425-28 5. SA 26:427 6. SA 26:427 7. MO 1:358 8. MO 2:148 9. MO 4:306ff 10. ...
... formal date for the creation of our Ashram, could it be said from the occult point of view that the Ashram was born with the Mother's arrival? The Ashram was born a few years after my return from Japan, in 1926. 17.4.1967 Page 8 The Lord told You: "One day thou wilt be my head but for the moment turn thy gaze towards the earth. " 1 Sweet Mother, what does "thou ...
... Published a letter in Annie Besant's New India on Morley-Minto Reforms, signing as. 'Indian Nationalist'. Poet Tagore with his Secretary Wrote Pearson met Mother in Japan and offered her entire charge of Santiniketan. Mother's smiling 'No'. 1920 January 5: Wrote to Joseph Baptista why he could not accept the latter of editorship of his journal. ...
... After regularly appearing for about six and a half years, the journal ceased publication in 1921. 24 April 1920 Madame Richard came again, after a residence of some years in Japan, and now stayed on. The circle around Sri Aurobindo gradually Page 14 grew. Arya had spread the Aurobindonian message far and wide, and people with a 'call' to yoga were ...
... of an illness, Dr. Kobayashi used the methods of concentration and 'still-Sitting' meditation to cure such diseases, and the Mother was well acquainted with his views and his work when she was in Japan. II In her Conversation XII, the Mother had said that "there is a plane in the mind where the memory of everything is stored and remains always in existence," and it is as though all ear ...
... recitations; on Fridays, story-telling; and on Sundays, dictation. On Fridays she took up her Belles Histoires (Tales of All Time), Paroles d'Autrefois (Words of Long Ago), legends from India, Persia, Japan and China and also anecdotes from her own life. 9 There were then her classes for the older children: since 1943, when the School had begun, these children had grown, and more and more had joined. ...
... used to be dressed rather slovenly "Oh, how ridiculous it all is!" After a silent contemplation Mother said again, "Oh, what a beautiful forest, my child. Trees as I have not seen except in Japan. Trees like columns, rising straight, planted in rows, superb! Pale green grass, light, so very light. Grass on the ground; air, lots of air; and at the same time there are only trees —a forest. Not ...
... any third party might take advantage and come in. It is no use having again somebody else to dominate India. Disciple : Any neighboring countries can come and even distant countries like Japan cannot be ruled out; even Russia. But how is this problem to be solved? Page 243 Sri Aurobindo : The best solution would be if Congress got the majority of the nationalist ...
... Cripps' offer and to press the Congress leaders to accept it. He had not, for various reasons, intervened with his spiritual force against the Japanese aggression until it became evident that Japan intended to attack Page 262 and even invade and conquer India. He allowed certain letters he had written in support of the war affirming his views of the Asuric nature and ...
... will flock to her from all parts of the globe. An so, indeed, they have been flocking—from America and England and France, from Germany and Holland and Spain, from Sweden and Australia and China and Japan, and from almost every part of India. The stream expands as it pours in and rushes forward to bathe the Mother's feet. Fired with the new spirit, the standard- bearers of the new Light gather round ...
... his fast for self purification or for spiritual end it is something, but how can he gain political power by that? It is the British Government that gives way to such pressure. Against Germany, Japan, Russia or even France that has no chance. Virawala a match for Gandhi. Vallabhbhai's life attempted after Amreli and Rajkot. Jail going is useful because it can help a nation in solidifying itself ...
... flock to her from all parts of the globe. And so, indeed, they have been flocking—from America and England and France, from Germany and Holland and Spain, from Sweden and Australia and China and Japan, and from almost every part of India. The stream expands as it pours in and rushes forward to bathe the Mother's feet. Fired with remarkable in them is not only the word 'manifestation', but ...
... something if he wanted to. Mrs. R used to write : “What has N come to – at Pondicherry? He is writing to us “do this” and “do that”, and finds fault with our work”. Of course, they were uarrelling in Japan also when they were there. They had different views on their work. B came straight from X. X was another great propagandist. He caught any one he could and made him do the Yoga – of course, it ...
... silently done and mainly by a spiritual action."4 Sri Aurobindo "had not, for various reasons, intervened with his spiritual force against the Japanese aggression until it became evident that Japan intended to attack and even invade and conquer India."5 "Impregnable" Singapore fell on 15 February 1942 and the Japanese quickly overran Malaya and Burma. On 11 ¹ Purani, Evening Talks, Second ...
... vigorous minority of extremists with men like John Adams at their head who pushed the country into revolt and created a nation. The history of the Italian revolution tells the same story. Even in Japan, it was when the issue between the moderate Shogun party and the extremist Mikado party was settled that the country's sensational regeneration became possible. Of course, as distinct from paper-unity ...
... of peoples and cultures, history has witnessed all kinds of minglings and assimilations and suppressions. The modem Western impact on the East, for instance, has followed a course of its own. India, Japan and China have received readily things of the mind from the West - "its science, its curiosity, its ideal of universal education and uplift, its abolition of privilege, Page 483 its ...
... very high one because the consciousness came back to the body directly — that is, to the individual being." Page 409 earth itself. Early in 1916, the Richards left France for Japan, and on Mirra writing about some of the difficulties in her sadhana, Sri Aurobindo replied on 26 June with one of the most detailed and practical expositions of this self-transforming and world-transforming ...
... singular work for the human race: the spiritualization of the race. But in 1947, Mirra was already the Mother. She had returned to Pondicherry on 24 April 1920 after a long stay in France and Japan. She had left Pondicherry on 22 February 1915, after spending almost a year in India. On her eightieth birthday, 21 February 1968, Mother declared, "The reminiscences will be short." And short ...
... Sister Nivedita (courtesy Ramakrishna Mission) 569 Sri Ramakrishna (courtesy Ramakrishna Mission) 574 Ma Sarada Devi (courtesy Ramakrishna Mission) 576 Mother before leaving Japan to return to India (from Abhay Singh's collection) 582 The stairs Mirra climbed to meet Sri Aurobindo (from Abhay Singh 's collection) 583 Sri Aurobindo at Pondicherry (from Abhay Singh's ...
... It was at the 'Guest House' that she first saw him, when she went to Pondicherry in 1914. That was "merely the beginning of my vision," Mother said. Six years later, when she returned from Japan and met him again "in the same house and in the same way—did the END of the vision occur." Page 18 ...
... Babu Aurobindo Ghose's acquittal was greeted with rejoicings and relief by one and all in the country, and even Page 370 beyond the seas —a letter of sympathy came from ... Tokyo, Japan I "Today let sounds of mirth rise from all directions," wrote Purba Bangla, Dacca, "and let 'Bande Mataram' be shouted with immense joy, piercing the Indian firmament.... This joy is not the ...
... Divine Presence is there in the depths of the Inconscient." But do we? Well, anyway, as it happens, Mother had SEEN the Divine in the Inconscient. It was in the 1920s. "After I returned from Japan, and we began to work together," Mother recounted to Satprem, "Sri Aurobindo had already brought down the supramental light into the mental world and was trying to transform the Mind. 'It's strange ...
... probably realised that my father had no intention of giving me the watch. She immediately went inside and brought me a small lady’s gold plated wrist watch which She said She had used extensively in Japan. Thus I got a wrist watch. Mother gave a lot of importance to the fact that I was serious in my punctuality as a captain and therefore rewarded me. The Mother’s handwritten note By then ...
... 25 September 1933 O my Mother, I have received a letter from Bhupati. He has sent some Japanese landscapes on post cards for You. If you like I could ask him to send some more such landscapes, if possible. These landscapes are not Japanese, they are either English or German. 25 September 1933 ...
... The Spirit of Auroville In reply to a letter from Mary Helen about the Japanese Garden, the Mother wrote on 22.12.72: It is to be naturally in the Japanese way . ...
... forms and symbols. European – the Far Western – art gives a front-view of reality; Japanese – the Far Eastern – art gives a side-view; Indian art gives a view from above.* Or we may say, in psychological terms, that European art embodies experiences of the conscious mind and the external senses, Japanese art gives expression to experiences that one has through the subtler touches of the nerves... schools in the East which have also moved very far away from the naturalistic view; yet they have kept, if not the form, at least, the feeling of actuality in their composition. Thus a Chinese, a Japanese, or a Persian masterpiece cannot be said to be "natural" in the sense in which a Tintoretto, or even a Raphael is natural; yet a sense of naturalness persists, though the appearance is not naturalistic... known as "primitive" (Polynesian, for example). Page 177 the effect of the beauty of form, or create the atmosphere and environment necessary for its display. A Chinese or a Japanese piece of artistic creation is more of a study in character than in form; but it is a study in character in a deeper sense than the meaning which the term usually bears to an European mind or when ...
... the window opening on the western side, there was an old Japanese seat, on which Mother sat when she worked or met people. It was here that, before going for the Balcony darshan, Mother would write the messages for Biren 1 which have been published in facsimile. And for a period she also had her meals here with Pranab. Beside this Japanese seat, there used to be a big cupboard in which Mother kept ...
... ns, she would recall one incident or another, for her ironical look never missed any incongruity. "The first time I came to India," recounted Mother decades later, "I came on a Japanese ship. And on this Japanese ship there were two clergymen, that is, Protestant priests, of different sects. I don't remember what sects exactly, but they were both English; I think one was an Anglican and the other... other a Presbyterian. "Now, came Sunday." It was Sunday the 15 th of March, 1914. "There had to be a religious ceremony on the ship, else they would have looked like pagans, just like the Japanese! There had to be a ceremony, but who should perform it? Should it be the Anglican or should it be the Presbyterian? They all but quarelled. In the end, one of them withdrew with dignity. I don't remember ...
... never wanted twelve huge petals 60 feet high around the Matrimandir. Instead she told Narad, others and me so many times about the splendid gardens—especially the one in Japanese style. She gave me hundreds of cards including Japanese cards depicting gardens, flowers, rocks and waterfalls. Personally, I feel that twelve solid blocks of cement concrete are not practical—especially in Pondicherry weather ...
... Let us try to be perfectly courteous and superior to other nations by all means; but if we cannot, there is no reason for disingenuous concealment and a mere Pharisaic pretence of superiority. The Japanese have an excellent habit of keeping anger out of their speech and reserving all their strength for acts; they will express their disapproval of you with great plainness, indeed, but also with wonderful... sentimental race, so long accustomed to find its outlet in speech, nothing so heroic can be expected. Still, we think the young men of the New party would do well to follow the example of the Japanese as far as possible. We should be absolutely unsparing in our attack on whatever obstructs the growth of the nation, and never be afraid to call a spade a spade. Excessive good nature, chakshu lajja ...
... The following eight pages contains examples of the Mother's handwriting in these languages: Sanskrit (Isha Upanishad, with French translation) Hebrew Phoenician Chinese Japanese Bengali Page 223 Page 224 Page 225 Page 226 Page 227 Page 228 Page 229 Page 230 ...
... the German army in the last war was the greatest army ever organised in the world. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, they were the most organised and the ablest soldiers in the world, except for the Japanese. But the Japanese are numerically fewer and financially poorer. The Germans, even with their great soldierly qualities, could not throw up any remarkable military genius like Foche. If Foche had been placed ...
... German army in the last war was the greatest and the best army ever organized in the world. Sri Aurobindo : Yes. They are the most organized and able soldiers in the world except the Japanese. But the Japanese are numerically less and financially poorer. Even so during the last war the Germans could not throw up any remarkable military genius like Foch. If Foch had been the Commander-in-chief ...
... thing do you want? With my blessings. THE MOTHER Mother, Today also I have done on my own, as I had nothing to copy from. Page 65 Mother has given some pictures (Japanese paintings) to Champaklal. You can try those if he has finished. S RI A UROBINDO Mother, Today I have drawn this picture from my own imagination. I do not know how to draw... I have drawn this figure. How do you find it? I have copied it. It is well done. 27.7.33 Sri Aurobindo Mother, This drawing is copied from a Japanese picture. After finishing the picture, when I looked at it, I was astonished at how I could do it. I never did any drawing in my school days, I even used to go away home every time there was... Ananda A la promenade - Out walking (7.8.33) Offering The Lotus The bouquet The Child Psychological perfection Mango Transparency Faithfulness Krishna's Light in the subconscient Japanese girl child Fire in the mind Krishna's Ananda False movement turned into true movement The Avatar (16.1.33) Supramental influence in thes subconscient Divine joy in work Mental sincerity ...
... on a Japanese boat. And on this Japanese boat there were two clergymen, that is, Protestant priests, of different sects. I don't remember exactly which sects, but they were both English; I think one was an Anglican and the other a Presbyterian. Page 147 Now, Sunday came. There had to be a religious ceremony on the boat, or else we would have looked like heathens, like the Japanese! There... hieroglyphs were written from top to bottom and from right to left, or was it from left to right? From right to left. From right to left. Chaldean languages are written like that. Chinese and Japanese also. Only Aryan languages are written from left to right. Page 153 ( Meditation ) Much later, when this talk was first published, a disciple asked Mother what gave rise to these questions ...
... gone, somebody connected with Her and Sri Aurobindo was awaiting us and receiving us with much love. Yesterday we met for the second time George Nakashima, the architect who built Golconde. He is Japanese, a wonderful luminous person deeply interested in Matrimandir. He will give us his advice for the outer cover and the gardens of Matrimandir. We have collected a lot of information for the optical ...
... given to me this morning. I am sending it to Thy Feet. It is good. I am sending you another one. You will notice the mountains in the background with the white mist hanging over them. It is very Japanese. Ma, I have done three sketches. First one of Y and then one of me at noon. And then one of Z done just now in the electric light. I am sending them all to Thy Feet. They are quite good. Indeed ...
... Dilipananda. (Laughter) DR. MANILAL: You have yourself given the name Ananda to people—to that Japanese. 2 SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, I gave him the name but not Sannyasa. (Laughter) × Sundarananda—the name given to the Japanese architect of Golconde, George Nakashima. ...
... exhibit on 15th August together with the paintings of other artists. The Mother explained to the artists how my paintings should be displayed, especially the three paintings (1) Buddha, (2) Kwannon—the Japanese Goddess of Mercy and (3) White Dahlia. She said: These three paintings must be kept separately from the rest of the paintings and underneath them must be written: "These are meant for concentration ...
... spite of differences all men are equal. Japan's flag is a fourth example of inspired creation. The scarlet sun spraying its rays around but most emphatically to the side away from the flag-pole, the outer side which signifies the rest of the world, is strikingly true to Japan's nature and activity. The sun is symbolic of the belief of the Japanese in being the heaven-born race, endowed with a... mission over the whole earth. And the sun as red light depicts the life-force thrilling at the same time with a bliss of beauty and a sense of all conquering power: the predominant motives of the Japanese consciousness – the aesthetic and the martial motives – authentically shine out in the depiction. In the red banner, with the hammer and sickle and star, the Soviet Union has impressively ...
... the consciousness became that of the One in all. "Everywhere and in all those in whom thou canst see the One, there will awake the consciousness of this identity with the Divine. Look...." It was a Japanese street brilliantly illuminated by gay lanterns picturesquely adorned with vivid colours. And as gradually what was conscious moved on down the street, the Divine appeared, visible in everyone and ...
... happened in 1923, when I had just starred my work with the Mother. She used to write letters to her mother. At times she would show me the address she had written on the envelope. She wrote it with a Japanese brush; it was so pretty to see. At times she sealed the cover. Once I was present when she was sealing: she lit a candle, kept the match-stick aside and sealed the cover with lac. After she finished ...
... After Datta passed away, Surendra 1 brought upstairs, with the help of some boys, a big box containing her things. As Mother was looking at them, someone pulled out an old mirror. It was a Japanese mirror and one corner of its frame had been eaten away. At once I asked: “Mother, what are you going to do with it? Is this not the same mirror that Sri Aurobindo was using in Library House?” ...
... appears that there are some who think of Pondicherry as a safe place and this is one of their reasons for remaining. This may turn out to be a serious error. Pondicherry can be a safe place only if the Japanese think it not worth their attention because it has no military objectives and no importance as a port or an industrial centre. Even then bombs might fall by accident or mistake, as the town is well ...
... Re-election by the largest electoral margin in recent American history, 523 to 8. 1939 (Sept. 1) Germany invades Poland 1940 (Nov.) Re-elected President of the United States 1941 (Dec.7) Japanese attack on the American Naval base of Pearl Harbour. America enters the war 1944 (Nov.) Fourth re-election (1s1 American President ever to be elected four times) 1945 (Apr. 12) Death at Warm ...
... arrange the paintings in the exhibition. It is a happy progress—whatever people may say or think. It is a miraculous progress. I received from the Mother a card with these words: Here is a Japanese picture painted on a very thin sheet of bamboo. I am sending you also the pink dahlia for painting. My love and blessings and the Presence of the Divine Grace are constantly with you. Since ...
... by me. I would transcribe from it in a day or so, and later type it out. According to the Mother's wish I started writing in bold letters the verses on big, thick sheets of handmade paper with a Japanese black felt pen. I had to write many sheets to complete the whole passage. During that time the Mother said: If you write the verses with full concentration, you will have control over your ...
... this letter I have just given you, that the leader of our march is the Almighty , if they feel that way... That's what made the strength of the Japanese in the past. That's what makes the strength of people here, once they are convinced. That's how the Japanese took Port Arthur; there was a sort of ditch around the fortress, as there are in fortified places, and because of that they couldn't get in; well ...
... planks which she herself joined by nailing sidebars on both sides. She asked me if I could undertake that work. I willingly agreed to try and she was happy to see me doing it. She would sit on a low Japanese stool and watch me doing the work, giving instructions when necessary. It was a very pleasant experience. Mother had ordered some fine carpentry tools from France. Later Pavitra also joined in my ...
... Library House, Mother always had her bath late in the evening. While bathing she would sing, and the song often continued for a very long time. In the beginning the Mother always wore tabi—a type of Japanese socks split at the toe, which can be kept on indoors like slippers and when going outdoors sandals can be worn over them. For many years she did not permit anybody to touch her feet, as she did not ...
... Gaekwad on his tour of Kashmir as his Private Secretary. December 17 - First successful flight of a plane by the Wright brothers in the USA. 1904, February - Beginning of the Russo-Japanese war. The Japanese sink the Russian fleet at Port Arthur (now Lüshun). August 3 — British forces under Younghusband, sent by Lord Curzon, reach Lhasa in Tibet. December - Sri Aurobindo attends ...
... for an infinitely greater heroism—but that is the only means of conquering. The Mother, Questions and Answers (1957 - 1958): 2 January 1957 The Mother sent me on 1st January 1957 a Japanese card in which there was a painting of an attractive landscape on a bamboo sheet. She wished me: Bonne Année To My dear little child, to my sweet Huta With all my love At 10 a.m. I went to ...
... so gallantly against the barbaric onslaught of the Germans, those who had been on the side of the Divine—even though maybe not consciously. And it was also mixed with a feeling of sympathy for the Japanese in spite of all their savagery and dark treachery for which this swift retribution has overtaken them. The atomic bomb is in itself the most wonderful achievement and the sign of a growing power ...
... August August Mother’s Agenda 1964 August 5, 1964 ( D., a disciple, sent Mother an eighteenth-century account by a Japanese monk of the Zen Buddhist sect describing a method called "Introspection," which enables one to overcome cold and hunger and attain physical immortality. Mother reads a few pages, then gives up. ) [ Hermès magazine, Spring 1963 ...
... claiming from the French her bit of territory, not by using any force but only as a concession. However, if France doesn't listen, Siam will renounce the non-aggression pact! PURANI: It must be the Japanese pressure behind. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. ...
... self. With all my affection and my blessings. Signed : Mother × A friend of Satprem's who died insane in a Japanese hospital in India ...
... the broad principles of strategy and tactics, and the nature and principles of guerilla warfare. These are freely illustrated by detailed references to the latest modern wars, the Boer and the Russo-Japanese, in the first of which many new developments were brought to light or tested and in the second corrected by the experience of a greater field of warfare and more normal conditions. The book is a new ...
... where it has been done? SRI AUROBlNDO: In Eastern Art, something has been achieved in human figures. NIRODBARAN: But in landscapes do you know any artist who has done it? SRI AUROBINDO: In Japanese drawings of flowers and landscapes, there is some expression of the Reality. ...
... the élite. If only they had remained by themselves, these people would have continued as a race unique and superhuman. Indeed many races have made claims to be that: the Aryan, the Semitic and the Japanese have all in turn considered themselves the chosen race. But in fact there has been a general levelling of humanity, a lot of intermixture. For there arose the necessity Page 150 of pr ...
... the elite. If only they had remained by themselves, these people would have continued as a race unique and superhuman. Indeed many races have made claims to be that: the Aryan, the Semitic and the Japanese have all in turn considered themselves the chosen race. But in fact there has been a general levelling of humanity, a lot of intermixture. For there arose the necessity of prolongation of the superior ...
... would be dishonest as we earn our living in Britain, and gratefully declined the offer. Sudha refused to leave without me. Having decided to stay with the others—the British, Americans, Germans and Japanese—we tried our best to keep cheerful and confident for their sake as well as our own. Then we came to understand that the Iraqi police and soldiers were equally hostages to their government as they ...
... Ardhakurmasana - 2 minutes. From Japanese sit (hips on or between the heels, knees together) bend down, arms stretched forward, forehead and palms on ground. Body completely relaxed. Normal breathing. Benefits: Removes fat in the abdomen and buttocks. Helps to improve digestion. Shashakasana 25. Shashakasana - 1 minute. Japanese sit. Place top of the head on the ground... and a good nourishment. A powerful nerve tonic, it invigorates, energises and aids the digestive power and also helps to purify the blood. Veerasana 27. Veerasana - 2 minutes. Japanese sit. Hands on knees, abdomen drawn in, chest up, back straight, shoulders squared, head erect. Normal breathing. Benefits: Aids digestion and helps cure sciatica. Abdominal breathing ...
... wherever one may be, to whatever age or country he may belong, all have the same essential experience. If it were not so, the Hindus would always see one of their gods, the Europeans one of theirs, the Japanese a third variety and so on. This may be an addition of each one's own mental: formation, but it would not be the Reality in its essence or purity which is beyond all form. One can have a perception ...
... wherever one may be, to whatever age or country he may belong, all have the same essential experience. If it were not so, the Hindus would always see one of their gods, the Europeans one of theirs, the Japanese a third variety and so on. This may be an addition of each one's own mental formation, but it would not be the Reality in its essence or purity which is beyond all form. One can have a perception ...
... 1958 My Savitri work with the Mother 10 February 1958 On 10th February 1958 I completed three years in the Ashram. The Mother had written on a Japanese card: To My dear little child Huta With all my love and sweetest compassion. Pour une bonne fête.* In the afternoon Nolini, Amrita, Champaklal, Dyuman, Udar and his wife Mona, Maniben, some others ...
... appeared on the human scene from time to Page 57 time in order to lift the veil of ignorance and darkness from men's eyes. Sri Aurobindo has himself affirmed his role in defeating the Japanese and the Nazis. When they were victoriously progressing in their march to world-domination, he used his spiritual powers to stop their victories and turn them into defeat and disaster. This is the ...
... room. This room is not of moon-silver. It is a little golden in colour. The carpet is also as if of gold stuff — very soft, with a flower-design in red. And I see on the carpet four or five low small Japanese tables, all carved in gold. On the tables there are plates with fruits that we never see on earth. And there are some tiny toys on the carpet — rabbits and deer and other animals — as if they were ...
... room. This room is not of moon-silver. It is a little golden in colour. The carpet is also as if of gold stuff—very soft, with a flower-design in red. And I see on the carpet four or five low small Japanese tables, all carved in gold. On the tables there are plates with fruits that we never see on earth. And there are some tiny toys on the carpet—rabbits and deer and other animals—as if they were decorations ...
... saved. Everything was arranged as if by chance. At Meenakshi 's that morning, two pilgrims spoke of a “Japanese Hospital” fifty miles away on the mainland. My plan was made; I was going to take Björn away. The vicious circle had to be broken, it was simple—or so I thought. Moreover those Japanese were supposed to effect “nature cures”; exactly what would be needed. A train was leaving at 9h 30. ...
... interesting. For instance, I'd like there to be ... To begin with, every country will have its pavilion, and in the pavilion, there will be the cuisine of that country, which means that the Japanese will be able to eat Japanese food if they want to(!), etc., but in the township itself, there will be food for vegetarians, food for nonvegetarians, and also a sort of experiment to find "tomorrow's food." You see ...
... the end of 1941, the war took a very serious turn. The Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbour, joined the Axis powers against Britain. Very soon they overran Singapore, which had been considered impregnable; next came the turn of Malaysia and soon after they entered Burma, thus coming to the doorstep of India. The impending threat of a Japanese invasion of India loomed large. The Viceroy made a public... He was convinced that the presence of the British in India was an invitation to the Japanese to invade India. He suggested that the safety and interest of both Britain and India "lie in orderly and timely British withdrawal from India". He believed that with the withdrawal of the British, the danger of a Japanese invasion would disappear. At this time, differences emerged between Nehru and Gandhi... the British. Page 53 Fifth, he said that when one has to choose between a known enemy and an unknown enemy, it was better to choose the known enemy. Because if the Germans or Japanese won the war, there was no guarantee that India would get freedom. The Indians would only change their masters and knowing the British, knowing the background of their history, with all their shortcomings ...
... result of light and shadow – this was of course the traditional European concept as opposed to the linear treatment by the Indian and the Japanese. The Mother loved Japanese painting and the love of the Japanese for things beautiful. She told me how the Japanese built their homes which became harmonious parts of the surrounding landscape. Once she addressed others along with me about creating a tradition ...
... spread their fragrance. The ethereal atmosphere carried me away. Everything was hushed except for the fast beating of my heart as I drew near the Mother. She sat in a chair. Her feet, in white Japanese tabis , rested on a footstool. She was wearing the white silk dress I had made for her—it suited her. She smiled and welcomed me cordially. I was asked to sit near her feet. She held my hands and ...
... show me how it could be done. Then suddenly she looked at me and said: Ah! but you know that I have features like an Egyptian. I caught a hint! I found one of the Mother's photographs in the Japanese dress—kimono—and sketched her face and showed it to the Mother in her room at the Playground. She saw my sketch. Amusement quivered in her voice as she asked me: Child, from which photograph have ...
... other flowers, plants, tall trees with marble seats underneath. Marble statues, marble fountains, small waterfalls, small pools with different coloured lilies and lotuses, small bridges, rockeries in Japanese style with varieties of cactus. There will be only one entrance. The pavement will be decorated with precious and semi-precious stones. This area will be surrounded by a huge lake. On one side of ...
... Tales of all Times Tales of all Times Appendix Words of Long Ago Fourteen Modesty Who is this coming to the door of this Japanese house? It is the flower-artist, the man who is skilled in arranging flowers. The master of the house brings a tray with some flowers, a pair of scissors, a knife, a little saw, and a beautiful vase. "Sir," he says... and cut away what offends the eye. The artist has done a fine piece of work, but he would not dream of exalting its merits. He admits that he may have made mistakes. He is modest. Perhaps the Japanese artist really thinks that his work deserves compliments. I cannot tell his thoughts. But at any rate he does not boast and his behaviour is pleasing. On the other hand, we smile at people who are ...
... Bulletin) that I have "helped her for years" and she expresses her gratitude, and then says she is "dreaming of coming to India...." One of my brother's daughters (I think) married a Japanese and came here with her Japanese husband—I saw him—and she has a flock of kids! But my brother's son and his other daughter, I don't know them. No, I don't have any family sense! Neither have I! With my ...
... of thinking of many different things, gathering knowledge of different kinds, considering a problem from many different sides, not following only a single line or track: it must be somewhat like a Japanese fan opening out full circle in all directions. You have, for example, several subjects to learn at school. Well, learn as many as possible. If you read at home, read as many varieties as possible ...
... of thinking of many different things, gathering knowledge of different kinds, considering a problem from many different sides, not following only a single line or track: it must be somewhat like a Japanese fan opening out full circle in all directions. You have, for example, several subjects to learn at school. Well, learn as many as possible. If you study at home, read as many varieties as possible ...
... it is shown by the lake being full. The spontaneous attunement of the psychic with the beauty of Nature is spotlighted by the remembrance of the Mother's statement about the aesthetic sense of the Japanese. The lotuses white and red point to the presence of the Avatars; the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. The lilies point to the inherent purity of the beings in this plane. The automatic results of the movement ...
... not come from beauty of mind or character; it is something in the life-force which may go with a good character but also with a bad one. Indians hardly appreciate the beauty of the Chinese or Japanese; like Europeans, they cannot appreciate beauty in Negroes. Many Asiatics could not appreciate the beauty of European models or actresses, who are so lacking in modesty according to their conceptions ...
... Second Cycle - The Journey in the Great Expanse By The Body Of The Earth or The Sannyasin The Japanese Hospital It was 9 o'clock. Balu protested vehemently. I tried to explain to him that Björn would be saved, that it was necessary to separate him from that Tantric. —He must not go away, he must not, he must not... Besides, he doesn't go there any longer... dazzling paddy field with little white grebes; then the jungle—the dense, stridulant, tormented jungle, no taller than a man, where mounds of stones floated like a giant's marbles. Where was there a Japanese Hospital in all that, where?... I questioned the chauffeur every ten minutes. —After... That was all: “after”... After what? It was two o'clock in the afternoon when we arrived. A dozen... Sir, he is in the car dying of heat; he is under the hood. It is 4 o'clock. He needs a bed and to be left in peace, for God's sake! The doctor jumped up like a puppet, then said three words in Japanese to his assistant and we went out. Björn lay crumpled on the seat, prostrate, dripping with sweat, his face covered with tiny, watery blisters. There was a little blood at the corner of his mouth ...
... 1941 — Lend-Lease Act: this famous law gives President Franklin Roosevelt the authority to aid Great Britain with ships and other war materials in its war with Nazi Germany. December 7, 1941 —Japanese attack on the American forces in Pearl Harbor. November 8, 1942 — Allies' landing in North Africa. May 30, 1943 — De Gaulle's arrival in Algiers. June 6, 1944 — Allies' landing in Normandy ...
... etc. will take place and the Mother's project will face a catastrophe and disrepute. Page 105 The project will take long to recover, we were told in the end. Earlier, Howard, a Japanese American, who is one of the earliest settlers at Auroville, asked me for my horoscope for his astrological studies. According to his reading, the time was nearing when I will be betrayed or let down ...
... very easy to observe that when you are in the habit of using a particular language, it comes in that language; for me it always comes either in English or in French, it does not come in Chinese or in Japanese! The words are inevitably English or French; and sometimes there is a Sanskrit word—but that is because, physically, I learnt Sanskrit. I have occasionally heard—not physically—Sanskrit pronounced ...
... German (in German T. translated it into "the highest" [Consciousness]; I told her, "It's rather poor, but anyway"), well, I said I wouldn't protest. In Chinese it's "Divine." I think it's "Divine" in Japanese too. In German, they asserted, "Oh, if we put 'Divine,' people will immediately think of God...." I replied ( laughing ), "Not necessarily, if they're not idiots!" But it has given me a very ...
... Dyuman is standing in the long corridor near the boudoir with a glass of lithine 1 for her to drink. Then she takes one or two pills of Cachon—a French make, black in colour, something like the Japanese Simsin —and taking out another Cachon from the box, she places it on my palm. It is 6.10 by the time she has come down to the first floor. I follow her through the Salon. Near the small passage she ...
... by the Mother. This has been especially a gift of the war; when the ill omen of the comet appeared in the sky of India, that is to say, when there was the panic of bombing by the Germans, and the Japanese, even their advent in this country seemed imminent, then many thought that the only safe place was at the feet of the Mother at Pondicherry. Therefore their solicitations reached the Mother. The ...
... corridor where we would keep the games that She gave us. Almost all the games demanded skill. We played the ‘Fiddle Sticks’ and ‘Flying Hats’ etc. but most of all we played the game of ‘Jonchets’—a Japanese game, which was the Mother’s favourite. The game of ‘Jonchets’ was played with pretty little sticks, resembling matchsticks. We held them all together in our hand and then let go or, to make the game ...
... in the Crimean War: Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell, Rode the six hundred. The Japanese soldiers too in one of their encounters with the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War did not wait to build a bridge over the ramparts of a ditch; they made a solid bridge with the pile of their dead as they jumped in one after the other ...
... several points were often hard to grasp: "Have you any hard-ships?" Another misuse of the language, rather a creative one this time, was by a Japanese Consul who visited the British Consul without an appointment. His wife had done the same the day before. This Japanese had always imagined the word "encroach" to be "hencroach". So with the intention of being logically correct in English he bowed and said: ...
... Brigade of England acted at Balaclava in the Crimean War: Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell, Rode the six hundred. The Japanese soldiers too in one of their encounters with Page 23 the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War did not wait to build a bridge over the ramparts of a ditch; they made a solid bridge with the pile of their dead as they jumped in' one after ...
... They either believe everything or nothing. That explains their attraction for Tibet, Bhutan and other places of occult atmosphere. Now-a-days stories and novels are being written with these themes. Japanese Zen Buddhism, and also Chinese Laotze have also attracted their attention. Page 87 I also wrote some stories but they are lost; the white ants have finished them and with them has ...
... wood-carving, which, I am afraid, is dying now. Greece and ancient Italy had the perception of beauty. The Japanese are a remarkable people – even the poorest have got the aesthetic sense. If they produce ugly things, it is only for export to other countries. I am afraid the Japanese are losing that sense now because of the general vulgarisation. In Germany Hitler must have crushed all fine ...
... them back to their owners." The king pardoned the vultures, for they had acted out of gratitude, though without discernment; and thanks to his prudence, the merchant too was spared. The Japanese have a picturesque way of expressing their idea of prudence. They have in one of their temples an image of a meditating Buddha seated on a lotus-blossom. In front of him are three little monkeys ...
... present in any other creation of it. Will it be then legitimate to redo the Great Ashwattha Tree in any other form? This redoing may belong to music or painting or poetry or gardening such as the Japanese bonsai. But whatever be the mode it is to be well understood that this kingly Tree has its glowing roots in the soil of the upper sky and its luxurious branches spread down below. Naturally... it has the power to bring closer to these longings and urges many splendours of love and beauty and truth's widenesses. There is therefore a pretty reasonable hope for the bonsai also. The Japanese surely know for centuries the big joy of growing bonsai. For them cultivating bonsai is a very artistic hobby and there is nothing artificial in it. It can become for them an articulation of ...
... own career of propagandist usefulness. No such arrangement was made in the case of the Bande Mataram . Had we intended to protect ourselves, we would have done it by the simple and convenient Japanese device of a jail editor. The device imputed to us would be neither illegal nor immoral, but it would be cumbrous and unsafe. It is perfectly true that it throws great difficulties in the way of the ...
... conduct of the war and with all its vicissitudes. They were like two Super-Generals. Sri Aurobindo has explicitly declared that he pitted his spiritual force against the Nazis and later against the Japanese. He kept himself acquainted with all the turns and twists of Page 227 the campaigns both on the European front and on the Asian. What the Mother did at a critical moment was ...
... × A disciple who was a friend of Satprem's; he had died insane seven or eight years earlier and Satprem had assisted him in a Japanese mental hospital. ...
... realities. He talks of India exerting international influence! You are not even a nation and you talk of being international! You have to be first independent. Even in a small affair like the China-Japanese war, what you have been able to do is to send an ambulance unit. Disciple : Our Y who was in Bengal politics has not a very high opinion about Subhas Bose. He says, he is a good lieutenant ...
... Sri Aurobindo : turning to X : "Any news?" Usually the news of local politics and other subjects used to come through X, Disciple : No news except that Mahatma Gandhi advises the Japanese visitor Kagawa to include Shanti Niketan and Pondicherry in his itinerary, without seeing which his visit to India would be incomplete. Sri Aurobindo : O that! I have heard about it. At ...
... All these days I had spent feeling downcast! When the Japanese were bombing Cox-Bazaar we were in Feni. On Sri Aurobindo’s directions our family was the only one that had stayed on in that deserted town for quite some time. And we never felt the slightest fear at any time. Then when we went to Calcutta, the curfew was on there too. The Japanese went on bombing but I did not feel frightened at all. ...
... sacrifice the individual and the family to the interests of the nation. Nowadays a new call is visibly forming, the call on the higher classes to sacrifice their privileges and prejudices, as the Japanese Samurai did, for the raising up of the lower. The spread of a general spirit of ungrudging self-sacrifice is the indispensable prelude to the creation of the Indian nation. This truth is not only ...
... century. One of the great symptoms of the decline is the prevalence of wars. It can be said in fact that there has been no real peace or even truce upon earth since the century opened with the Russo-Japanese War. Wars have continued since then uninterruptedly: some part or other of the world has always been involved. Indeed one can say it has been a single war carried on on many fronts, breaking out at ...
... gone even farther a field, as Swami Vivekananda observed on 11 March 1898, after his visit to the Far East. "You may easily imagine my astonishment when I saw written on the walls of many Chinese and Japanese temples some very familiar Sanskrit mantras . . . they were all Page 99 written in old Bengali script." Krishna Dhan refused. Honest to the core, he did not feel it a sin to ...
... things are really interesting; first of all, for example, I would like each country to have its pavilion, and in the pavilion there will be the cooking of that country,—that is, the Japanese will be able to eat Japanese food if they want to, etc. But in the town itself there will be food for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians, and there will also be some attempt to find the food of tomorrow. ...
... It is high time we abandoned the fat and comfortable selfish middle-class training we give to our youth and make a nearer approach to the physical and moral education of our old Kshatriyas or the Japanese Samurai. Page 223 ...
... doubt that this concern continued during the rest of the worldwide tragedy, and many allusions in their writings or conversations confirm this. On 15 August 1945, Sri Aurobindo’s birthday again, the Japanese Emperor Hirohito, for the first time in history addressing the nation directly, broadcast a message declaring the unconditional capitulation of his country, thus bringing the Second World War to an ...
... translated 'divine consciousness' by 'highest consciousness'?" So everyone is sticking his oar in! But we're going to prepare a little brochure with the message and all these translations—into Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, etc. It will all be photographed, and then we'll restore the German text. Oh, the Russian text... But as a "city of peace," it's amusing! ( Laughing ) It's promising! I don't ...
... education in mental development is now universally recognized, but I don't think it is so well accepted here in our society. Once I had a very interesting conversation with the sport editor of a big Japanese paper. He was wondering why India was not doing so well in many sports. He asked me: "Why do you Indians consider that a pot-bellied man is a successful man?" In India, well fed means successful ...
... century. One of the great symptoms of the decline is the prevalence of wars. It can be said in fact that there has been no real peace or even truce upon earth since the century opened with the Russo-Japanese War. Wars have continued since then uninterruptedly: some part or other of the world has always been involved. Indeed one can say it has been a single war carried on on many fronts, opening out ...
... England and France. They have got a school where they train future Governors of England. So far as organization is concerned there are only two people who cannot be surpassed : The Germans and the Japanese. In the last war they found maps in Germany of English villages in which the position of trees and houses were also indicated. There was a reference to Hiranya-garbha which I took to him. He ...
... FULL spiritual experience of the Himalayas. "It was a grace given to me—a gift." This was Mother's first visit to India. On 7 March 1914 Mirra and Paul Richard had boarded the Japanese liner Kaga Maru at Marseille. After a few halts here and there, the ship arrived at Colombo port on 27 March. In Ceylon (Sri Lanka) they spent the whole day. They met a Buddhist monk. The next day ...
... than the white, but it is quite absurd and foolish to think that anybody is better or worse simply because of his colour. The African negro thinks that his colour is the most beautiful of all. The Japanese thinks that his colour is superior to any other. Colour prejudice is a very low thing. It indicates a very low state of consciousness—a consciousness just emerging from the inconscient. It is not ...
... A Choice of Games I In an earlier chapter, the short-lived but psychically very potent effort at communion known as the Soup ceremony was described: its distant filiations with the Japanese Tea Ceremony, the evocation of a unique spiritual atmosphere in the Reception Room where it was held in the evenings, the mystic phenomenon of sharing and exchange, the rewarding experiences of... decoration. The Mother too was uncannily susceptible to the influence of flowers and had a profound rapport with them. When she was in Tokyo and Kyoto, the artistic and psychic overtones of the Japanese flower arrangement - especially in association with the Tea Ceremony - had impinged on her deeper consciousness, and the resulting resonances became a part of her being. In Pondicherry, again ...
... Kicking is easy. As to the effects or after-effects, that has to be seen. MYSELF: Boil again inside the right nostril! But perhaps you will ask me to imagine being a Spaniard, German, Jew, Japanese—German pact, Russian inflammation at it etc., etc. All right, Sir, I will imagine all these if you will imagine giving me a dose of Force, what? SRI AUROBINDO: It is for you to do that. I ...
... and was bombed relentlessly by the Luftwaffe, London on seventy-five consecutive nights in which forty-thousand people died. No wonder that Churchill felt an immense relief when, because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, the United States of America was finally forced to enter the war on its side. Fully realizing the power of its new ally, he considered the war won from that very day. “Our ...
... except by numbers thrice those of the defence and war therefore would bring no military decision but only an infructuous upheaval and disturbance of the organised life of the nations. When the Russo-Japanese war almost immediately proved that attack and victory were still possible and the battle-fury of man superior to the fury of his death-dealing engines, another book was published, called by a title ...
... for when one sees, one projects the Page 27 forms of one's mind.... You have the vision of one in India whom you call the Divine Mother; the Catholics say it is the Virgin Mary, and the Japanese call it Kwannon, the Goddess of Mercy; and others would give other names. It is the same force, the same power, but the images made of it are different in different faiths." Questions and Answers ...
... second world-war-phrase finds a place "behind his vain labour, sweat and blood and tears" reminding us of the famous Churchilian phrase. The unrolling of the cosmic panorama finds an apt image in the Japanese rolls of painting "a kakemono of significant forms". And how far the latest scientific advances have become assimilated in his poetic genius can be seen from the revealing way in which, under the ...
... earlier, commenting on similar circumstances of Muslim ruffianism, he said that it was high time to give our Page 234 youth a physical and moral education "of our old Kshatriyas or the Japanese Samurai." It was the British who had sown the seeds of violence. Terrified at the rising nationalism the Anglo-Indian Governement had turned to turbulent Mahomedan fanaticism, hoping to drive out ...
... perspective, the psychic vision of the Chinese and Japanese painters are not the same as those of European artists; but who can ignore the beauty and the wonder of their work? I dare say Mr. Archer would set Page 296 a Constable or a Turner above the whole mass of Far Eastern work, as I myself, if I had to make a choice, would take a Chinese or Japanese landscape or other magic transmutation of ...
... country!’ 2 Mother with Prime Minister Nehru, Shri Kamraj Nadar, Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Lal Baladur Shastri (1955) In 1950 there were 750 disciples, not including the children. When the Japanese invaded India and threatened Calcutta, the Mother had given shelter to relatives of the disciples and to their children in the Ashram, ‘the safest place on earth because of Sri Aurobindo’s presence... the light-house. Satprem, also present there, writes in his evocative style: ‘In the evening, after her game of tennis, one saw her enter the Playground, 91 very small, tranquil, white, with Japanese getas on her feet, in long pyjama-trousers tied around the ankles and a kamiz 92 of which the colour changed along with the days — for colours too have their specific power and centre of con... Divine Energy in her,’ 16 Sri Aurobindo had written. The Mother was the incarnated Shakti, the executive, manifesting Energy of the Divine, there present in that ‘small, tranquil, white’ figure in Japanese getas and wearing an Indian salwar-kamiz. How often has she not said with a smile that she was doing the sadhana ‘at a gallop’, like ‘a hurricane’ or ‘a jet plane,’ without ever halting at an ...
... The idea of whiteness and scintillation is presented in a different form in a poem about a Japanese fan in the hand of Mallarme's daughter. At the end of a whole series of intuitive fantasies whose central motif is "un pur delice sans chemin" — "a pure pathless delight" — the poet sees the Japanese fan folded up by his daughter and held against her braceleted arm as if it were a wing closed in ...
... up the opportunity of joining the ICS. Embracing that same ideal whole-heartedly he took up the life of a college professor in a mufossil college. However, during the Second World War, when the Japanese bombed Chittagong, this college closed down and father was forced to move to Calcutta. Many opportunities of important jobs came his way. But he was a dedicated devotee and disciple of Sri Aurobindo... had not yet seen the real nature of the Axis Powers. Every day father would try valiantly to make these junior professors understand Sri Aurobindo’s political vision and wisdom. In the meantime the Japanese began bombing Chittagong and Cox Bazaar. At once Feni turned into a deserted town. Our life took a different turn. One by one all the families left Feni. Every professor or gentleman, while leaving... wherever we were. We rehearsed this for several days. I can still picture father standing erect and blowing that big conch. The sound of that conch would infuse courage into us. However, in the end, the Japanese did not bomb Feni, and we firmly believed that it was the Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s unlimited Grace that had protected Feni. For many years father could not go to Pondicherry. With a heart longing ...
... people at the division of their holy land that they seemed to have caught a hot patriotic fever and that revolutionary action at last became possible. Their fervour was also fed by the victories of the Japanese over the Russians at Port Arthur (1904) and Mukden (1905), which proved for the first time that an Asian nation could beat the haughty Westerners. In 1906 a Bengal National College was founded in ...
... interested in other forms of folk and temple dancing. He went abroad several times before and after the second World War and was the first Indian to dance the age-old legends of India in a Japanese theatre. Ram Gopal went to America, Poland, France and was happy to feel that he could understand completely the classic storehouse of European and Indian music. After his return to India, he continued ...
... × Considering it to be of no interest, Satprem unfortunately did not keep a record of his answer. The P. in question died insane, in a so-called "Japanese hospital," and one night (this is most likely the story he was telling Mother here) Satprem found him being held prisoner in a kind of hell. His body was covered with wounds which Satprem treated ...
... groups: peasants, rooted in the soil, nomads roaming through the steppes, and parasites living from trade and commerce. The representatives of the peasants, rooted in the soil, are we [the Germans], the Japanese and the Chinese. Only the people who are rooted in the soil have real culture; they know that they have to protect the heritage of their forefathers, and that their labour will bear fruit for their ...
... Perhaps our sense of beauty was concerned with the movements of the heart or at most with material objects of art. Perhaps, we had never been the worshippers of beauty in the outer life like the Japanese. Yet whatever little we had of that wealth of perfection within or without had died away for some reason or other. The want of vitality, the spirit of renunciation, poverty, despair, sloth, an immensely ...
... interpretations of Buddhism and any strictures I may have passed were in view of these interpretations and that onesided stress. I am aware of course of the opposite tendencies in theMahayana and the Japanese cult of Amitabha Buddha which is a cult of bhakti. It is now being said even of Shankara that there was another side of his doctrine—but his followers have made him stand solely for the Great Illusion ...
... as the producer of that particular scene has wanted it. Things seemed to have begun to gravitate in another direction. —O Moshaï ... I turned around. There were the two pilgrims from the “Japanese Hospital”. —At what time, the train from the mainland? I looked at them half bewildered. I stammered: —Nine-thirty. They turned away without even a word of thanks. I could have sworn that ...
... the inspiration of Baron Okakura. 1 They had already started it before I went to Bengal and when I was there I came to hear of it. I simply kept 1. Baron Kakujo Okakura (1862-1913), a Japanese artist friend of the Tagores. Page 313 myself informed of their work." He was still going and coming between Bengal and Gujarat. Before openly joining politics Sri Aurobindo ...
... already finely honed. She was always ready to learn a little more and to understand a little better. Bharatidi did not take 1. Suzanne Karpeles, see Book Two, p. 77. Page 21 a Japanese liner like Mirra, but the types she met and the sights she saw could not have been much different. She journeyed with her mother and her elder sister, Andree. Here are some excerpts from Bharatidi's ...
... the Himalayan gates of India and Japanese fleets appear before Bombay Harbour, by what strength will England oppose this gigantic combination? Sri Aurobindo's thesis could be summarised thus. If India's freedom was necessary for Asia, it was equally necessary for world peace. Continued British presence in India must sooner or later provoke a Sino-Japanese alliance and joint-action, first to... mediate between the civilisations of Europe and Asia, both of them so necessary to human development". All this was written in 1908, no doubt after Japan's great victory over Russia, but before the two world wars, before the revolutions in China, before Japan's bombing of Calcutta, Visakhapatnam and Madras, and long before Red China's invasion of India from the Himalayas in 1962. It was but a rapid newspaper ...
... least. Well? 1 November 1935 To try to be a literary man and yet not to know what big literary people have contributed would be inexcusable. Why is it inexcusable? I don't know what the Japanese or the Soviet Russian writers have contributed, but I feel quite happy and moral in my ignorance. As for reading Dickens in order to be Page 217 a literary man, that's a strange idea. ...
... a strong inner foundation in the consciousness and that even the physical being shares in this result of the realisation. As for the "spectator" and the coils of the dragon, it is the Chino-Japanese image for the world-force extending itself in the course of the universe and this expresses the attitude of the Witness seeing it all and observing in its unfolding the unrolling of the play of the ...
... Greeks is beauty. You can't say modern Europe is beautiful. In fact, it is ugly. What can be said of ancient Greece can be said also of ancient India. She had beauty, which she has since lost. The Japanese are the only race that can be said to have preserved beauty in their life. But now even they are fast losing it under European influence. The setback to the human mind in Europe is amazing. As ...
... events. The second episode unfolded near the PED office, in front of the archive’s office on Nehru St. There was a beggar sitting on the roadside with a cloth spread in front of him. He sat there in Japanese fashion, never talked or begged with outstretched arms. He sat through rain and sunshine. We all thought it an achievement — an opinion which someone expressed in the PED office. All were admiring ...
... ) But this cat, mon petit.... I got her when she was very young. She would come and lie down, stretched out like a human being, with her head on my Page 160 arm! (I used to sleep on a Japanese tatami on the floor.) And she would stay there, so well-behaved, didn't stir all night long! I was really amazed. Then she had kittens, and wanted to give birth to them lying stretched out, not at ...
... Gandhi advised England to fling off arms and melt Hitler's heart by letting him ride roughshod over her. Its defect was laid bare again with terrible vividness when he talked of India fighting the Japanese invader with non-violence. He did not realise the threat to world-civilisation by the Fascist maniacs and how limited and ineffective complete non-violence would have been against their blind brutality ...
... became the accepted goal of the Congress. Sri Aurobindo met Tagore once during this year (1906) at Tagore's Jorasanko Street residence, where he went in answer to the poet's invitation for dinner. A Japanese artist, Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose and some other prominent people were present. Tagore visited the Sanjivani office now and then where he occasionally met Sri Aurobindo. Manmohan began his service ...
... indeed is always more subjective than the West and we can see the subjective tinge even in its political movements whether in Persia, India or China, and even in the very imitative movement of the Japanese resurgence. But it is only recently that this subjectivism has become self-conscious. We may therefore conclude that the conscious and deliberate subjectivism of certain nations was only the sign ...
... how elastic his creative genius has been. He adopted the Egyptian style and depicted Gandhiji's march to freedom. Abanindra Nath has worked with oil and water adopting the European, Indian, Chinese, Japanese or any style that suited his genius and appealed to him. Goganendra Nath is avowedly modern in his open acceptance of "cubism" and yet he is original in his application, interpretation and the use ...
... when the propaganda of assassination shall be the only method of service for men who desire to give their lives to their country." Baron Okakura had come to India with Vivekananda. He was a Japanese artist and art critic, besides being a revolutionary who dreamed of One Asia, a dream he set forth in his book Ideals of the East. So between Okakura and Nivedita and Page 550 Sarala ...
... the race. That war in the past has, when subjected to an ideal, helped in this elevation, as in the development of knighthood and chivalry, the Page 51 Indian ideal of the Kshatriya, the Japanese ideal of the Samurai, can only be denied by the fanatics of pacifism. When it has fulfilled its function, it may well disappear; for if it tries to survive its utility, it will appear as an unrelieved ...
... or like that, all differing and yet it would be one and the same manifestation. You have the vision of one in India whom you call the Divine Mother, the Catholics say it is the Virgin Mary, and the Japanese call it Kwannon, the Goddess of Mercy, and others would give other names. It is the same Force, the same Power, but the images made of it are different in different faiths. What is the place of ...
... Not clear? But "woven-incense words" don't get me. Incense-woven words (or word) thy heaven-reveried—has absolutely no coherence, meaning or syntax, in English at least. In German, Sanskrit or Japanese it might perhaps do. The reference of words is quite clear, but that does not save the Bedlamic syntax. "Woven-incense" words is a Hopkinsian compound—that and my alteration of "thy" to "and" gives ...
... The Mother's play, The Ascent to the Truth, was performed on 1 December with no less than eight backdrops. The University Centre organised an educative Dolls' exhibition, with a special comer for Japanese dolls. The Mother took particular interest in the exhibition, and it evoked wide interest and unstinted appreciation. One of the Mother's rare outings was to the Island* where Frederick Bushnell... compelled a rout. During the World Wars, the use of the tank and the bomber aeroplane hastened the fall of Germany in 1918, and the release of the atom bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki compelled Japan's surrender in 1945. In like manner, though in a fundamental spiritual sense, a new Power is needed to fight the Evil of the world and vanquish (or transform) it once and for all. The Power greater than ...
... scholar, artist, cultivator or artisan, not merely the religionist or the worldling or the politician. Nor can he be limited by his nationality; he is not merely the Englishman or the Frenchman, the Japanese or Page 68 the Indian; if by a part of himself he belongs to the nation, by another he exceeds it and belongs to humanity. And even there is a part of him, the greatest, which is not limited ...
... imprisonment and Barin-da for life. It is in this jail that they were kept. ( The Mother looks closely at the picture ) Mother, it is Subhas who chased the British out of the Andamans with the help of the Japanese. This is his photograph after his conquest of the island. The Mother: In him also the inner fire is burning. His psychic is illumined. Yes, it is very clear…. ( After having seen all the photographs ...
... too had lost the rhythm, I was caught up in the insane rush of men and I looked at those crates of lemons on the platform as if I were going to see Björn spring up suddenly, having escaped from the Japanese Hospital. —Hey, Sannyasi, your staff. “Sannyasi, Sannyasi...” Will they never leave me in peace! He held out my staff. It was a pilgrim from the north. Then I don't know what came over me: I ...
... adjudged "ugly" is no duckling at all - it is a swan! Sri Aurobindo was acquainted with European art in its early classical, renaissance and recent experimental phases, and also with Chinese, Japanese and Indian art. His intimacy with the Hellenic and the Hindu spirit, and the cultural achievements of the West and the East, gave him the clue to a catholic and universal aesthesis; and his appreciation... After sprawling towns and smoky cities have grown round many of these ancient temples, it is becoming difficult if not impossible to look at such architectural marvels as they are intended to be. The Japanese, Sri Aurobindo reminds us, have wisely raised their temples and installed their Buddhas "as often as possible away on mountains and in distant or secluded scenes of Nature and avoid living with great... an inappropriate approach on his own part than to a deficiency in the picture itself in its own level of execution. And so he says elsewhere: "The perspective, the psychic vision of the Chinese and Japanese painters are not the same as those of European artists; but who can ignore the beauty and the wonder of their work?" 35 All discussions on Indian painting must start - and end - with the ...
... physical signs of it, but also he can't know what a man is thinking unless the man speaks or writes—does it follow that the state of thought cannot be "fancied" without its sign in speaking or writing? A Japanese who is accustomed to control all his "emotions" and give no sign (if he is angry the first sign you will have of it is a knife in your stomach from a calm or smiling assailant) will have none of these ...
... something especially good for lunch, I always feel like giving it to you!... Page 103 × Lonicera japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle). × Chrysanthemum, yellow. ...
... observation that when you habitually use a certain language, the experience expresses itself in that language: for me, it always comes either in English or in French; it doesn't come in Chinese or Japanese! The words are necessarily Page 54 English or French, with sometimes a Sanskrit word, but that's because physically I learned Sanskrit. Otherwise, I heard (not physically) Sanskrit uttered ...
... There was, in fact, a whole group of Ashram people (they might be called the Ashram "intelligentsia") who, influenced by Subhas Bose, were strongly in favor of the Nazis and the Japanese against the British. (It should be recalled that the British were the invaders of India, and thus many people considered Britain's enemies to be automatically India's friends.) It reached the point ...
... which science, organisation and efficiency had armed the governing States of the large imperial aggregates. All the facts were pointing in one direction. Korea had disappeared into the nascent Japanese empire on the mainland of Asia. Persian nationalism had succumbed and lay suppressed under a system of spheres of influence which were really a veiled protectorate,—and all experience shows that the ...
... Sudetenland one week after Sri Aurobindo’s accident, and they paraded in Prague three months later. Spain was in the grip of civil war; Benito Mussolini tried to live out his Caesarian fantasies; the Japanese aggressively enlarged their empire in Asia. The world was on fire. One of the letters from the Mother to her son André is dated 22 October 1938. In this letter she wrote to him: ‘Speaking of recent ...
... development of strength, suppleness, calm, quiet, poise, grace and beauty in physical education, whether done by Yogic Asanas or by other methods of physical culture, such as games and sports, or Japanese Judo and similar exercises, will ensure the contact of the body with the psychic centre and the body will learn to put forth at every minute the effort that is demanded of it; for it will have learnt ...
... a colourable imitation of life and nature. In another tradition, the artist begins with the intuition or contact or experience at deeper levels, something that is true of the Indian or Chinese or Japanese tradition, and these starting points make a difference in the creativity of forms and in the emphasis that Page 15 one lays in expressing the inner and the truer, the-inner ...
... have ample l These statements are not full but condensed in his own words. Page 39 proof that the Invisible has been successfully represented in arts. The Chinese or Japanese Dragon is it from the visible? It may even be asked: are the forms created by modernist art from the visible? He has tried to say that Cubism is art-language of the modern artist. It would ...
... and thither like puppets taken by surprise. And I also was going without knowing, I wanted to “do” something, but what? I had wanted to “do” something for Björn as well, I had “saved” him in that Japanese Hospital, I had “freed” him from that Tantric, and each time I had zigzagged straight into the trap. Oh! we are really marionettes—and what else was I going to do?... I could not very well stay in ...
... and hold it firmly and say, "No! You won't hide any longer now, I see you as you are, and you must either get out or change!" One must have a strong grip and an unshakable resolution. As in our Japanese story of the other day, that soldier who had a Page 243 knife in his knee in order to make sure of not falling asleep... and when he felt very sleepy, he turned the knife in such a way ...
... a colourable imitation of life and nature. In another tradition, the artist begins with the intuition or contact or experience at deeper levels, something that is true of the Indian or Chinese or Japanese tradition, and these starting points make a difference in the creativity of forms and in the emphasis that one lays in expressing the inner and the truer, the inner being or the inner form of the ...
... really interesting. For instance, I'd like... To begin with, every country will have its pavilion, and in the pavilion, there will be a kitchen from that country, which means that the Japanese will be able to eat Japanese food if they want to (!), and so on, but in the township itself, there will be food for vegetarians, food for non-vegetarians, and also a sort of attempt to find "tomorrow's food." The ...
... champions, Arjuna and other Pandavas against the Hitlerite Kauravas. And after so many ignominious defeats, you know what happened ultimately: the Allies were triumphant, the Fascists were crushed, the Japanese were routed - Pakistan met with the same fate later on; and the humbled China turned tail and went back. Still, unfortunately, India is hugging the dry and dark bones of her dark prophets. 137 ...
... flung aside his hat but not waited to divest himself of the coat. His hand was in the pocket and the butt of the revolver was in his hand. The door was open and, unusual circumstance, veiled by the Japanese screen. He stood at its edge and looked into the room which was intensely still, but not untenanted—for on the rug before the fireplace, at either end of it, stood Renée Beauregard and a man unknown ...
... was the place where the sittings were held. There, also upstairs, was a less broad verandah than at the Guest House, a little bigger table in front of the central door out of three, and a broad Japanese chair—the table covered with a better cloth than the one in the Guest House, a small flower vase, an ash-tray, a block calendar indicating the date and an ordinary time-piece, a number of chairs ...
... second floors. Her day began early, at about four or even earlier. After taking "some lime-water with lithine" and a pill or two of "Cachou - a French make, black in colour, something like the Japanese Simsim" she came down from her second floor rooms to the first floor by 6.10 a.m., and exchanging smiles and greetings with various inmates all along the way, she walked up to the Balcony and gave ...
... translated divine consciousness as the highest consciousness?" So each one puts in his own bit! But they're going to make a little brochure of the message and all these translations, in Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, etc., it's going to be photographed, so we'll fix up the German text. Oh! the Russian text... But for a 'city of peace' it's amusing! (laughing) It's promising! ... want, in Russian or German (in German [name] had translated it as "the highest", I told him, that's poor, but anyway), anyway I said that I wouldn't protest. In Chinese it's "divine". I believe in Japanese it's also "divine". In German they avowed, "Oh, if we put 'divine', people will immediately think of God..." I answered (laughing), "Not necessarily, if they are not idiots!" But that ...
... shifted, was the place where the sittings were held. There, also upstairs, was a less broad verandah than at the Guest House, a little bigger table in front of the central door out of three, and a broad Japanese chair – the table covered with a better cloth than the one in the Guest House, a small flower vase, an ash-tray, a block calendar indicating the date and an ordinary time-piece, a number of chairs ...
... they may be, whatever age, whatever country they may belong to, the experience is the same. Whereas if it were as you say, then Indians would see one of their divinities, Europeans one of theirs, the Japanese one of their own, and so on. Then it would no longer be a pure perception, there would already be an addition of their own mental formation. It is no longer the Thing in its essence and purity, which ...
... question be of Indian Yoga itself in its own characteristic forms, here too the supposed inability is contradicted by experience. In early times Greeks and Scythians from the West as well as Chinese and Japanese and Cambodians from the East followed without difficulty Buddhist or Hindu disciplines; at the present day an increasing number of occidentals have taken to Vedantic or Vaishnava or other Indian spiritual ...
... with simple and clear words. On p. 214, in Watched her charade of action for some hint, Read the No-gestures of her silhouettes - [pp. 188-89] "Nō" refers to a form of Japanese lyric drama, also known as "Noh". Naturally, it has nothing to do with negation such as in the lines: Page 111 A limping Yes through the aeons journeys still Accompanied by ...
... He never touched milk. I'm sure He used to drink milk when He was in Calcutta, but not here. The reason was because Mother doesn't take milk, and why doesn't Mother take it? Perhaps because the Japanese don't take it! ( Laughter) So Sri Aurobindo also did not have milk, and I can sympathise with that because I don't like milk! I am not a milk baby at all! Another interesting thing that ...
... sixteen other languages: Tamil first, then Sanskrit, then English, followed by thirteen languages of the world in their alphabetical order: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Tibetan. It was really the same song of human aspiration though coming in different notes, and the reiteration in the languages of the world was but the ringing ...
... shifted, was the place where the sittings were held. There, also upstairs, was a less broad verandah than at the Guest House, a little bigger table in front of the central door out of three, and a broad Japanese chair—the table covered with a better cloth than the one in the Guest House, a small flower vase, an ash-tray, a block calendar indicating the date and an ordinary time-piece, a number of chairs in ...
... seen in loneliness, in the solitude of one's self, in moments when one is capable of long and deep meditation and as little weighted as possible with the conventions of material life. That is why the Japanese with their fine sense in these things,—a sense which modern Europe with her assault of crowded art galleries and over-pictured walls seems to have quite lost, though perhaps I am wrong, and those ...
... had to retreat from El Alamein. When Stalingrad fell, on 31 January, the war was practically decided, for now the Red Army attained its full fighting capacity and the United States, shocked by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, had entered the war on the side of the Allies. That from that time onward the outcome was certain, we know now; then, however, fighting raged all over the globe, continuing ...
... important aspects of Indian dance with the famous dancer and dance-teacher, Sonal Mansingh. We have reproduced the conversation that we had with her. Finally, we have presented extracts from a Japanese story written by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi on the subject of eurhythmics. There are, indeed, a large number of games and sports and various forms of dance, Indian and Western. It is impossible to give ...
... every day near my own office. He used to Page 55 come in the morning and meditate in front of Sri Aurobindo’s room at the east end. The Mother would come, making a shuffling sound with her Japanese sandals, and Sanyal would be ready to receive her. But the Mother, without ever looking at me, would walk straight to him and go back after blessing him. I would sit at a little distance, as a silent ...
... War?' 'I was in Berhampore then,' Dada replied. 'People were leaving Calcutta in droves under the menace of bombs. The bombs fell in Hatibagan, in Dalhousie Square, also in Kidderpur dock. The Japanese dropped the bombs into the spouts of the ships harboured in the dry docks. When the bombs fell in Dalhousie Square one of the boys from our Berhampore Club was killed. He had gone to Calcutta to buy ...
... more profound imagination have begun to superimpose themselves on the old ingrained attitude. As a result, and as a contributing influence towards this change, oriental or at any rate Chinese and Japanese art has begun to command something like adequate recognition. But the change has not yet gone far enough for a thorough appreciation of the deepest and most characteristic spirit and inspiration ...
... by the Mother, and a brief meditation. VIII What came to be known as the Soup distribution seems to have been instituted by the Mother early in 1927, probably on the analogy of the Japanese Tea Ceremony to which a reference has been made earlier. *Big Rats. Originally, says K. D. Sethna, they seem to have come from Indo-China in the boats of the French colonisers. Page 287 ...
... —they begin with the Greek Thales and Anaximander, as if human thinking began with them. That is the old style European mind. It used to be the same in Art and other matters. Now Chinese and Japanese art is recognised and to a less degree the art of India, Persia and the former Indian colonies in the Far-East, but in philosophy the old ideas still reign. "From Thales to Bergson" is their idea... home to me as a sublimation of a type I was very familiar with when in Baroda. Very amusing his encounters with the pundits—especially the Socratic way of self-depreciation heightened almost to the Japanese pitch. His photograph you sent me shows a keen and powerful face full of genius and character. February 1937 Page 553 × ...
... some of the progressive ideas now developing in the educational scene. We have considered some of the insights of the ancient Indian tradition and, to some extent, the insights of the Chinese and Japanese Zen masters. We shall now turn to the Sufi tradition. There is some controversy over the exact etymology of the word Sufi. According to some, the word is derived from suf (wool), and was ...
... of the boots, i.e. of your subtle body and its exits. November 28, 1936 Boil again inside the right nostril! But perhaps you will ask me to imagine being a Spaniard, German, Jew, the Japanese-German pact and the Russian inflammation against it etc., etc. All right, Sir, I will imagine all these if you will imagine giving me a dose of Force, what? It is for you to do that. I can only ...
... development of strength, suppleness, calm, quiet, poise, grace and beauty in physical education, whether done by Yogic Asanas or by other methods of physical culture, such as games and sports, or Japanese Judo and similar exercises, will ensure the contact of the body with the psychic centre and the body will learn to put forth at every minute the effort that is demanded of it, for it will have learnt ...
... continued to attract sadhaks and visitors from all over the world. Mr. Josef Szarka, a dedicated Austrian seeker came for good in August 1957, Since he was also a holder of the Black Belt in Judo, the Japanese art of wrestling, the Department of Physical Education was able, in February 1958, to introduce classes in Judo and Jiu-Jitsu under his competent guidance. And, at the Department's request to the ...
... evolution are far more marvelous, luckily. And so She taught them "in another way." In the evening, after her tennis game, She would come to the Playground, so slight, quiet and white, wearing Japanese getas, long, puffed out pantaloons tight round the ankles, a kameez of different colors depending on the day—because colors, too, have their meanings with specific powers and centers of consc ...
... who have been in attendance on me since the accident. Anything to the contrary you may have heard is incorrect. The report of Subhas’ death has not yet been definitely [ascertained]. The Japanese official radio mentioned the crash and Indian deaths but no names. The news comes from Vichy, which is not always or often reliable. * May 30, 1942 (From Mother) ...
... replacing this superficial attachment by the integral realisation of Thy eternal Oneness? 6 Reconciled thus to the event, the Richards leave Geneva; and, the next day, at Marseilles they board the Japanese boat Kaga Maru. There seems to have been some commotion on the way, but as if by miraculous intervention in answer to her prayer, calm is restored, and all is well: Violence was answered ...
... " said Mother. * * * Mother approved of Prabhat, M. J. Patel, Howard, Frederick and Tim to form a group to coordinate the Japanese pavilion and cultural participation in Auroville. She wanted to know what is happening about the Japanese pavilion. Informed her about it. * * * 30.10.72 Weekly selection from Sri Aurobindo. Letters were disposed... Mother remarked, "Auroville is not a shelter for murderers." * * * 22.12.72 Letters were disposed of. In reply to Mary Helen's query about the Japanese garden, Mother said, "It is to be naturally in the Japanese way." * * * 23.12.72 No time for work. * * * 24.12.72 An Ashramite lady's letter was read pointing out shortcomings in... into concentration. * * * Mother gave her photo for someone who was having difficult nights which affected his waking state also and brought a kind of revolt. Page 134 A Japanese woman who wrote, "I want to know who I am", was allowed to go to Mother with me, instead of joining the group. * * * Birthday Pranam requests and admission requests were disposed ...
... Indian leaders. The Mother felt amused and inquired, "Why?" By then She had sat on the chair that was in front of Her. It was a very unusual and mteresting scene; the Mother, stiII in Her beautiful Japanese kimono just out of the bath, didn't seem to care to change Her dress, and was more interested in the arguments against the acceptance. Then She began to talk with a very calm and distinct voice. One ...
... Heaven", and found them too, especially one "greater than all, a solitary, the Chosen of the future". 5 An even less veiled reference to Sri Aurobindo occurred in the course of a speech he made to a Japanese audience: The hour is coming of great things, of great events, and also of great men, the divine men of Asia. All my life I have sought for them across the world, for all my life I have felt ...
... the collapse of the Manchurian Dynasty in 1912. Mirra would meet one of the Chinese militants in Paris. And finally (or simultaneously), in Russia, with the torpedoing of the Russian fleet by the Japanese at Port Arthur in 1904, which precipitated the first revolutionary waves: the assassination of the Grand Duke Serge in Moscow in 1905, the repression of revolutionary students and their exile to ...
... but because of the nirbhar . To try to be a literary man and yet not to know what big literary people have contributed would be inexcusable... Why is it inexcusable? I don't know what the Japanese or the Soviet Russian writers have contributed, but I feel quite happy and moral in my ignorance. As for reading Dickens in order to be a literary man, that's a strange idea. He was the most unliterary ...
... minute. 12 She did not want to believe it. Almost ferociously, She carried on her activities which had grown heavier since the war with the arrival of the first children from Calcutta fleeing the Japanese bombs: the Ashram was opening up to the outside. 123 children in 1950. She had to reorganize everything, create a school, train teachers and physical-education instructors, check the wave of discontent ...
... English vowels in a slightly aspirate way. Thus they pronounce 'e' as 'he', 'o' as 'ho', 'n' as 'hen', 'encroach' as 'hencroach', etc. "A Japanese Consul visited the British Consul without an appointment. Now, his wife had done the same the day before. This Japanese had always imagined the word 'encroach' to be 'hencroach'. So with the intention of being logically correct in English he bowed before the ...
... elaborate description of its development. Considering that our resources in men and money were then limited, how such a magnificent building was erected is a wonder. An American architect with his Japanese and Czechoslovakian assistants foregathered. Old buildings were demolished, our sadhaks along with the paid workers laboured night and day and as if from a void, the spectacular mansion rose silently... Physical Education which together form the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. Both of them, like the others, were born from tiny chromosomes and out of a compelling necessity, for the Japanese aggression had driven the children of the disciples in affected areas to seek shelter in the protecting arms of the Mother. She had now to devote much of her crowded time to the children who needed ...
... the state of thought cannot be "perceived" without its sign in speaking or _____________________ 4. On Yoga II, Tome One, P. 349 5. Ibid P. 347 Page 147 writing ? A Japanese who is accustomed to control all his emotions " and give no sign (if he is angry the first sign you will have of it is a knife in your stomach from a calm or smiling assailant) will have none of ...
... 80.Jain, Rama D-82 Preet Vihar, Delhi -110092 81.Jain S.L. Principal, Mahavir Sr. Model School Rana Pratap Bagh, Delhi -110033 82.Jain, Sushma Head, Department of Japanese School of Languages Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi -110067 83.Jaipuria, Anjali A-9/24Vasant Vihar New Delhi -110057 84.Jaipuria, Suniti A-9/24 Vasant ...
... go through the usual concentration on each one of them, they wonder, "What is it? What's wrong? Have I done something?..." And it turns into a big drama. 18 Her legs, which She carefully hid in Japanese tabis, were swollen from the filariasis, like iron rods. And She kept going here and there, all the while repeating the mantra. But just the same, the problem was there: Every person, every letter ...
... Poems, Page 220 Sri Aurobindo: Incense-woven words (or word) thy heaven-reveried - has absolutely no coherence, meaning or syntax, in English at least. In German, Sanskrit or Japanese it might perhaps do. The reference of words is quite clear, but that does not save the Bedlamic syntax. "Woven-incense" words is a Hopkinsian compound - that and my alteration of "thy" to "and" gives ...
... to 19th century A.D.) 44. Gujarati painting—glass painting, Kalampari art 45. Fabric Painting 46. Encaustic Painting-involves working with pigment, wax, and heat 47. Chinese/Japanese painting (including Sumi-e), both of which are distinctive and very beautiful styles of brush painting. 48. Portraits individuals, groups of people, couples and self-portraits. 49. Comic ...
... CHAPTER 10 Return to France I After a modest celebration of her birthday (she had completed thirty-seven years) on 21 February 1915, Mirra left for France the next day. She boarded the Japanese boat, the Kamo Maru, at Colombo, and the voyage was attended with all the uncertainties and dangers of the global War. Was she happy? was she sad? - she did not know. The surface mind was a blank ...
... give them to us. We soon had a little corner all to ourselves where we kept all these games. We played “fiddlestix”, “flying hats”, etc. but most of all we played “Jonches”, a Japanese game which was Mother’s favourite. Page 50 J onches was played with fine match-like sticks. These were either collected together in the hand, and released all together ...
... purpose in introducing sports? What was your role in the organisation? Before the Second World War (1939-45), children were not admitted into the Ashram. Calcutta and Vizag were bombed by the Japanese in the early years of the War. Some disciples of Sri Aurobindo, thinking that the Ashram was the safest place for their children, requested Mother to accept their children in the Ashram. Mother could ...
... advance of the group, so to speak, and another tree behind it, before the whole composition merges into a little grove. I don't have a tree with a hole through the trunk, but I do have a group of Japanese rather gnarled alders by a stream, and yet another tree picture entitled 'The Gate of the Forest' with a sort of tunnel under the canopy of leaves. I also have a fine engraving of a beech tree with... Sri Aurobindo's centenary year? Sri Aurobindo was born on August 15. 1872. His 75th birthday got declared most significantly - thanks to Lord Mount-batten's blind intuition spurred by his memory of Japan's surrender in World War II - as India's Day of Independence. A seal appeared to be set on the political work, during his early career, of one who was the first to formulate total independence as the ...
... Bombay. For, impossible as it may sound, I knew when I was a boy an English child in Bombay who had been named "Togo" because he had been born in 1904, the year at whose near-end during the Russo-Japanese War Admiral Togo had started the masterly manoeuvers by which he had destroyed the whole Russian fleet off the coast of Manchuria. And I myself was also born in the same year in Bombay. Perhaps the ...
... the Mother was only disproving the view that not having succeeded in seven or eight years meant unfitness and debarred all hope for the future. The man of the wall stands among the greatest names in Japanese Buddhism and his long sterility did not mean incapacity or spiritual unfitness. But apart Page 202 from that there are many who have gone on persisting for long periods and finally prevailed ...
... Ernst Mayr: What Evolution Is , p. 208 (italics added). × See the recent series of Japanese documentaries realized with international cooperation: Planet Earth – not to be confused with David Attenborough’s similarly named but older documentaries made for the BBC. ...
... Yes, you are and will be more and more a child of the Light. No obscurity must be allowed to manifest through you. 12 April 1934 Dear little child, The paintings are fine, they are like Japanese ones. As for the "plane" from which they come, it is surely the subtle physical, where the memory of all the conceptions and works of art realised on earth is stored. Very affectionately yours ...
... scholar, artist, cultivator or artisan, not merely the religionist or the worldling or the politician. Nor can he be limited by his nationality; he is not merely the Englishman or the Frenchman, the Japanese or the Indian; if by a part of himself he belongs to the nation, by another he exceeds it and belongs to humanity. And even there is a part of him, the greatest, which is not limited by humanity; ...
... colonization taking place at the time. The translations of the Indian and Chinese classics, the foundation in Paris of the Guimet Museum and the Oriental sections in the Louvre, and the interest in Japanese painting, very influential on post-Impressionist art, were all expressions of the same phenomenon. In fact, occultism in all its aspects – hermetism, alchemy, astrology, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism ...
... verily stared one in the face, for each flower carried its own particular message. Page 270 Now Mrityunjoy secured the work of spreading the narrow mats and arranging the diminutive Japanese-style tables in the dining room, then in the Ashram compound itself. Even so, his attitude of egoistic separativity remained, and this necessarily affected the progress of his sadhana. Soon he ...
... old familiar and yet new "tick , behind the door ! Slowly a door opens : The Master steps out first behind him the Mother with white creamy san-with broad red border. He sat in his usual broad Japanese chair. The Mother sat on the right side on a small stool. Page 304 For a short time – about five minutes there was complete silence ! Then he glanced at each one separately ...
... want to make for my dear, dear Mother? How will my dreams be fulfilled if I waste my time? Mother, do You know, I am going to embroider large curtains for Your room? You told me once that the Japanese cover the walls of their rooms with embroidered curtains. You are right; nothing is better than to realise our most beautiful dreams and nothing makes us stronger and happier! 11 June 1933 ...
... I say to myself softly by way of encouragement. 'What you climb today, you won't have to climb tomorrow.'... The sun and the dry air parch me. I remember that I have with me a tiny bottle of Japanese medicinal herb oil, and put two drops of it on my tongue. For a while that brings relief and opens the air ways. Apart from aspirin this herbal remedy is the only medication I carry on the mountain ...
... Physical Education. She had founded a school during the war years, for many relatives of Ashramites, especially Bengalis, had descended on the Ashram in Pondicherry to seek shelter from the threatening Japanese. The children of those families had to be kept occupied – the serious inmates of the Ashram, concentrated on their tapasya, were far from happy with the children’s presence! But the Sri Aurobindo ...
... without the direct intervention of the Divine Grace, so a fortiori the Grace can do it. He can make the barren unproductive land productive and fertile. Even a man can do that, say, Mussolini or the Japanese agriculturist. Seeds are thrown into the soil—they don't lie there for a thousand years and then sprout. But first make clear what is meant by the soil? The surface man? The subliminal man? In every ...
... to me as a sublimation of a type I was very familiar with when in Baroda. Very amusing his encounters with the pundits—especially the Socratic way of self-depreciation heightened almost to the Japanese pitch. His photograph you sent me shows a keen and powerful face full of genius and character. Page 269 February 16,1937 Will you please tell me ? Yesterday I was talking ...
... was a date linked in his memory to the most triumphant hours of his own existence, the day on which his long crusade through the jungles of Burma had ended with the unconditional surrender of the Japanese Empire … His voice constricted with sudden emotion, the victor of the jungles of Burma about to become the liberator of India announced: “The final transfer of power to Indian hands will take place ...
... mightiest or my desert solitary. 57 In another piece, "A Little Knowledge", the intended contrast is conveyed by, a combination of the knife-edged clarity and cherry-blossom fragrance of a Japanese miniature: When I was with a little knowledge cursed, Like a mad elephant I stormed about And thought myself all-knowing. But when deep-versed Rich minds some portion of their ...
... scholar, artist, cultivator or artisan, not merely the religionist or the worldling or the politician. Nor can he be limited by his nationality; he is not merely the Englishman or the Frenchman, the Japanese or the Indian; if by a part of himself he belongs to the nation, by another he exceeds it and belongs to humanity. And even there is a part in him the greatest, which is not limited by humanity; he ...
... reality expressed with simple and clear words. On p. 214, in Watched her charade of action for some hint, Read the No-gestures of her silhouettes— "No" refers to a form of Japanese lyric drama, also known as "Noh". Naturally, it has nothing to do with negation such as in the lines (p. 227): A limping Yes through the aeons journeys still Page 384 Accompanied ...
... of Europeans, and in particular races, notably the South Germans, the Celt and the Slav; there is much that is European in numbers of Asiatics, and in particular nations, notably the Arabs and the Japanese. But the fundamental divergence in speculative habits is very noticeable, for in the things of the mind the South imposes its law on the whole Continent. We shall therefore expect to find, as we ...
... retired engineer of the State Railways, the SNCF. Matteo's children were almost toddlers when Mother left France in 1914. But one of his granddaughters came to Pondicherry in the mid-fifties with her Japanese husband, to see her "great-aunt." In 1919, Matteo was appointed Governor of the Congo in Central Africa. Then, in 1934, he became the Governor of French Equatorial Africa. While the parents were ...
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