On the 5th of May N&N announced an open talk by Sraddhalu at SAWCHU, but the Working Committee canceled the talk about the controversy surrounding  Peter Heehs book on Sri Aurobindo. Columbia University Press released it in 2008. Controversy followed. We talked with Loretta about the ban, about the book, about Peter Heehs, about Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. The Mother said that "in peace and harmony the eternal manifests. The first thing that you have to base everything upon is harmony. When there is disharmony things don't work." Read more

The Sufi singers Abdul Ghani, Ajah Maideen and Saburmaideen Babha Sabeer (Vocals and Rabahna percussion in the Qawwali style) from the Nagore Dargah usually perform at religious and social ceremonies at their sufi shrine in coastal Tamil Nadu. They recorded the song Ya Allah for Laya project movies and the album Nagore sessions for EarthSync. - www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXfPFxfy7ZM - www.layaproject.com - - www.earthsync.com/store-in.asp?catalogid=23 - - www.myspace.com/nagoresessions - Read more

At early morning hours as last Mooralala Marwada with his group came on the stage of Kalabhumi at Kabir Music Sacred Festival last Saturday. Although number of audience substantially decreased, those who stayed cheered them with laughter and laud halo, which supposed to be Mooralala wake up call, so that no one is left asleep at the time when they sing. He is a folk singer from Kutch district of Gujarat in Western India, and sings the poetry of Kabir along with other poets such as Mira, Ravidas or Sufi Sindhi poet Shah Abdul Lateef Bhitai Read more

Each group of singers brought something special something unique on the stage at the Kabir Sacred Music Festival in Kalabhumi last Saturday. Mahesha Ram group came as the most colorful with their bright orange, pink ...turbans on their heads as they belong to the Meghval community of Rajasthan in Western India. They represent a hypnotic folk style typical of the Meghvals, who are musicians not by profession but more traditional carriers of Kabir's poetry trough the oral traditions of all night jagrans and satsangs. Read more

It was already getting late when third group of Mukthiyar Ali appeared on the stage of amphitheater in Kalabhumi on the Kabir - Sacred Music Festival, but audience still in numbers cheered them loud as well. Mukhtiyar Ali coming from a small semi nomadic village with only eighty families from the Thar Desert in Rajasthan. Faimilies of this village are known as keepers and protectors of 800 years priceless Sufiana Qualam tradition, who managed to carried over the centuries not only lyrics but as well the style of the music. Read more

Second night of Kabir Festival of Sacred music in Auroville started with Shabnam Virmani, who is very well known in the country as initiator of changes of social fabric starting her path as journalist, continuing as a film maker, and finally in 2003 she began Kabir project as idea of making a series of this late 15th century mystic poet. Soon she began to recognize that where was a seed that once planted had deep inner resonance that rippled trough individuals, communities and world creating an intangible change of spirit and of consciousness. Read more

When Prahlad Tipanya came on the stage in Kalabhumi on second night of Sacred Music Festival Kabir audience was thrilled. His charismatic personality with honesty, and sense of humor attract seekers, while he is widely acknowledge to have deeply impacted and contributed to oral tradition of Kabir singing in Malwa. He is the one who propagate with great personal intensity and engagement the spiritual message of Kabir. He organizes every year Kabir music Festival, visited by thousands singing bhajans together and listen to musicians. Read more

Just few hours before the first Kabir musical event in Kalabhumi. Listen to Parvathy Baul, Shabnam Virmani and Prahlad Tipanya sharing (in Hindi & English) their spiritual experiences. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Satsanga, Satsangam, Satsang (Sanskrit ??????? sat = true, sanga = company) in Indian philosophy means the company of the "highest truth," the company of a guru, or company with an assembly of persons who listen to, talk about, and assimilate the truth. Read more

Since studying media choice for Auroville Radio was a logical option for Stella who wanted to spend and volunteer some more time in Auroville. She finds AV radio different mostly because is not searching exclusively for bad news, which would be the practice everywhere else, but still wishes that it would be more focused of Auroville values, reflect a state of the town with it's truth. Whole team admire Stella for her honesty, sense for a team work, and for her excellent photographic portraits she have taken over her volunteership.

The Russian Singing Bells came to Auroville as an inspiration for the Russian Pavilion about four years ago, and ever since have been bringing special and joyful experience to many during the Sunday meditations at Unity Pavilion in International Zone. Vera, who plays on them since, felt the need for a change and brought the bells to open-outdoor space in March. That series finished with yesterday's meditation on the platform between the buildings at Town Hall, opposite Le Morgan cafe. Open and informal space allowed the bells to vibrate, and resonate peace and beauty Read more

Srimoyi, who is in charge of the organization of the Park of Unity (the amphitheater, the Banyan Tree, the Matrimandir and the twelve gardens including the Garden of Unity), explains the three different booking procedures to enter the Matrimandir. She also talks about the Mother's guidelines and the current difficulties her team has to face. 'It must be solitary and silent. It must have an isolating zone, one must have access to it only with permission.' Read more

As part of the Invocation of Bulgarian Pavilion, six actors of the Overground Arts Alliance with Stojan Radev shared with us the story of constant struggle of the modern urban "slave" who makes a choice on his evolutionary journey. Homo Novus starts on the path of darkness and destruction which slowly, trough modality of consciousness, embarks on a path of light and transformation. He understands that one cannot avoid darkness and destruction. At last, with the interaction of audience, his journey merges with the universal flow, finds harmony Read more

We were heartedly invited and welcomed by traditional Bulgarian bread and salt at main hall of Untiy Pavilion in International Zone on Tuesday, 6th of March at the occasion of Invocation for the Bulgarian Pavilion. Nicolai started with a sweet song on tamboura, and Tatyana read Mrs.Irina Bokova's letter for the occasion. Mrs. Bokova as the Director General of UNESCO visited Auroville in 2010, and at the time was impressed over it. Tatyana and Dirk shared with us beautiful and inspiring video presentation of the country. Read more

On February 28th, 2011, the work began for a new Matrimandir exhibit at the Visitor's Center. One year later, on the 44th birthday of Auroville's beginning, the exhibit opened at 9:30 a.m. following a concentration and consecration of the space. The exhibit, which was partially created with earth from the Matrimandir Gardens, was envisioned to be more a more spatial, visceral, and visual venue than the old exhibit. The creation was a smooth and quiet process, and was realized just in time for the one year deadline. Read more

Many times things fall in place just at the right time. In interesting conversation with Tatiana, who hails from Bulgaria we found out that the Invocation for the Bulgarian Pavilion in the International Zone is more or less a result of "coincidences". And for the first time the larger group of visiting artist from different areas of creative work will share with the community the spirit of Bulgaria. Another coincidence - those days are as well auspicious days for the country with ancient ritual of martenitsa and national holiday.

For Sri Aurobindo, says Rod Hemsell, spirituality has a purpose, that of furthering the evolution. And it was this idea that Rod showed us through his readings and commentary of selected passages of Savitri in his presentation at the Unity Pavillion. His reading persuades listener to fall into a state of meditation as he digs deeper into how the idea of the Divine Mother is connected to the earth and its evolution. This session was organized by the University of Human Unity, Auroville. Read more

Celestine is an Aurovillian artist who came here twenty-five years ago. She wrote a touching poem about Krishna in order to express her feelings and to spread those deep emotions in Auroville and outside. She is giving us an interview about her inspiration, her love for dancing and the power of movement. Listen to her explanations and the poem itself which is called 'Krishna and piano'. 'My heart vibrates wildly, swells up tears in my eyes, fills up every nerve and fiber with joy... Even the Thane Cyclone couldnt move me...' Read more

Based on the rhythm and inherent melody of the epic word, these simple tunes want to convey the mantric atmosphere of the solar myth about Savitri and her stories. The audience in the Savitri Bhavan center closed their eyes and followed the contemplative music as if in meditation. Aurelio: Voice and Tambura. Nadaprem: Bansuri, Viola, Computer Read more

Songs by Hans Vas with a guitar from Savitri, Book 2 Canto 7. The Descent into Night Initially these three songs were recorded and published by Savitri Bhavan in order to be shared with a group of Savitri Readers in Netherlands through on-line since Hans Vas stayed in Auroville at this moment and wished to contribute his songs to a program of Savitri reading organized in Netherlands. Savitri Bhavan team publishes these beautiful and peaceful ‘songs from Savitri’ on Auroville Radio with a wish to share them Read more

Yesterday morning at quarter to six when the birds were still asleep, hundreds of Aurovillians and Auroville guests came to the Matrimandir amphitheatre for meditation to honor the mothers birthday. Shraddhavan who came to Auroville almost forty years ago is giving us an interview about the mothers birthday and the reasons why people are so enthusiastic about her. She is looking after Savitri Bhavan which aspires to be a center for spiritual education aiming to realize human unity. Read more

At Savitri Bhavan is open the exhibition THE TEACHINGS OF FLOWERS - THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE MOTHER OF THE SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM. In today's news we feature interview with Shraddhavan at the occasion of the Mother's Birthday. Tonight On the eve of the Tibetan Dragon year 2139 at Pavilion of Tibetan Culture in International Zone at 6.45 they prepared a meditation for peace starting with the gathering of Tibetan Chanting by the visiting Students from Tibetan Children’s Village School from Dharamsala followed by a meditation. Read more

Loretta, an Aurovillian since 1972, interacted with students at the Tibetan Pavilion. She introduced them to the life and teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and to an extent, also demystified the concepts such as 'consciousness', 'aspiration', 'supra-mental' and 'transformation'. Some insightful questions were put up by students and Loretta explained more about Sri Aurobindo's life, books written by him and the Mother, their vision of the future and much more. Read more

The program 'Matter Precipitates... It is in a hurry to transform itself' by Sri Aurobindo Centre for Studies... India and the World, concluded with the 'Auroville Round'. It was a session open to all to come together and share their perceptions of how to take the next steps towards creating a new collective space. Aurovillians, scientists, philosophers, researchers, followers of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and curious tourists, who had attended all or some parts of the program got together to share their learnings and experiences.

Deepti Tewari has been in Auroville since she was 16. She has read the Mother and Sri Aurobindo extensively and has achieved much clarity on their ideas of the 'earth consciousness'. Today she shared with us her understanding of the 'type of consciousness' that Auroville was built on, and the consciousness that Aurovillians perhaps need now. Auroville was built to be a psychological garden of harmony, sweetness and beauty, she says, but it can be that only if we renounce our egos and let the 'collective realization' take over.

Dr. Chris Macann, a philosopher, first explains that it's crucial to know 'whose' vision we subscribe to in our understanding of the world. He goes on to draw comparisons between the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and that of the French philosopher Henri-Louis Bergson on the 'visionary element in human thinking', and the 'Ladder of Being' (i.e. matter / life / consciousness / self consciousness). He then proposes an alteration in the ladder, that of replacing 'matter' with 'nature', and explains what can be made possible with this change.

Dr. Rekha Tandon, an Indian Classical dancer, presented an often forgotten similarity between yoga and dance, especially classical Indian, where both are exploratory forms in which we work through matter to find the spirit. As in yoga, the Indian classical dance poses are much about balancing the body, the spinal chord, and so the chakras. And as in the yogic chakra system, by practicing the Indian classical dance forms, a person can truly begin to experience the transition from matter to spirit.

Dr. Prema Nandkumar talked about the growing need for humanity to break the seal of the last chapter of the play she calls the 'evolutionary destiny of man'. With stories and poems ranging from Norwegian folklore to western legends, from Indian mythology to Greek mythology, Dr Prema spoke about the meaning of the cycle of life and death, and if a total transition of the matter is possible. Finally she draws our attention to relying on the power of the soul, not science, to explore matter.

Devdip Ganguli reflects on dilemma around 'right action' - how to evaluate an action as right or wrong? In the context of solutions provided over the ages, such as codes, testaments and religious principles, Devdip uses some very interesting anecdotes and letters written by the Mother to present her view on this issue and her strong belief in a person's inner sense to take decisions. Devdip concludes that 'right action' is what is inspired from the highest light available to us at that time. Read more

Uma Haimavati, founder of a design unit at Auroville, shares her experiences of being in Auroville and of the inspirations that the Mother provides her. After experiencing 'extreme vulnerability' during the recent cyclone Thane, Uma's past experience was reinforced that 'creativity' must apply itself to human unity in order to counter the feeling of nullness that arises after a disaster. She strongly believes 'knowledge would be delivered at the doorstep of action,' and looks forward to humanity arriving at its best composite for the future.

Georges Van Vrekhem, as a physicist, curiously observes that 'matter is weird stuff'. With interesting examples and clarity, he compares the general religious view of matter or the human body (i.e. burdensome) with that of Sri Aurobindo's (i.e. miracle of matter). He also explains the 8 ways of interpreting matter and goes on to ponder on texts by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and explains the relationship between matter, mind and spirit. His conclusion: In matter lies the truth, the reality. Human existence is then a matter of matter! Read more