Various random thoughts

Early morning in the humid mist

I suppose that wandering in the early morning humidity causes one to reflect upon the place you are in. During this walk, I refelcted upon the myriad of experiences that we have had in Auroville. I remain impressed with the individual persistence that many have here to make a positive impact upon the world thruogh their actions and meditations. There is no perfect place on earth. Man has altered the world virtually everywhere. We are an imperfect species and that is reflected in our actions.

Last night I joined  a small tour into a pebble gardern. Here was a husband and wife who have found ways to transform an ancient river bed, full of the pebbles one would expect and a virtual desert, into a lush space with a productive garden. They have done it with innovation creating their own soil. Nothing has been brought in to enhance the natural transformation. This barren space has become what you see below:

This man and his wife are quite dedicated but they are not the only people working the land that we have met here. There is Sadahana Forest where one is being built along with water preservation and the building of the wtaer table. There is Solitude where there is permaculture being developed. There is a plant medicinal garden near Auroville as well.

There is also a wide variety of healing practices here that we have participated in. We have also done a lot of meditation. This has included time in the inner chamber at the Matrimandir as well as Sunday mornings for 3 hours with a small Vipassana group.

Last night we saw our fourth concert since coming here. It was a capella of 16th century liturgical music. Quite maginificent. The choir is amateurs from Auroville while the conducter is a gentle talented professional from Flemish Belgium. He also led a smaller choir in Gregorian Chant - an also wonderful evening. We previously attended a jazz pianist, Hartmut von Lieres - a delightful evening as well. You can check him out at http://von-lieres.com/albums.html  The fourth concert was a jazz evening that was not so pleasant. It included an electric violin which I think is a direct invention of Lucifer himself. When I heard it, I thought the nerves were being pulled from my spine - one by one.

The point here is that there are many opportunities for a large variety of experiences that help one look inward. It has been said (although by whom I am unsure) that one comes to India either to find oneself or lose oneself (or perhaps both). I think it is impossible to spend any significant amount of time here without an effect.

While I do not consider myself an expert on Sri Aurbindo, the founder of the ashram in Pondicherry and a person who had a magnificent and powerful effect on Auroville, I have been reading a banned book while here titled The Lives of Sri Aurobindo. It has been published in the US but there is presently a court order here prohibiting its publication. Underground copies are circulating. It was written by a man who has been at the Aurbindio Ashram for many years. It is exceedingly controversial. It strikes me as odd though, that the book's opponents have sought to silence the author by having the book banned and, I am told, even tried to have his visa revoked so that he could no longer stay in India - a country that has been his home for a long time. I am also told that there have been death threats against him.

This alll strikes me as rather ironic. The British attempted to silence Aurbindo when he was a political figure opposing their rule of India. They talked about having him "transported" - i.e. shipped out of India. The parallels between what the British tried to do to Aurobindo and what some are trying to do to the book's author are interesting indeed.

I am reminded of the words attributed to Voltaire - "I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it." (According to answers.com the source of that quote is actually "Evelyn Beatrice Hall, writing under the pseudonym of Stephen G Tallentyre in "The Friends of Voltaire" (1906), as a summation of Voltaire's beliefs on freedom of thought and expression.")

I have read some of the criticism of the book - valid I suppose. At times though, I find them almost hystrionic. For example, one suggested that the author hinted at Aurobindo having a mental disorder and that it might be related to the inspiratiosn that Aurobindo had. Having read those sections of the book carefully, I cannot agree that he has made that suggestion but rather reviewed the idea raised by others.

The criticisms may, in the balance be fair. Heehs has published 8 other books. I believe that commentary on books is valid and impotrant but attempting to silence a voice is a dangerous path that we have seen countries pass along with disasterous consequences. I am sad to see a democracy such as India anywhere on that path.

There will be no doubt those that think I have this terrribly wrong and really don't know what I am talking about. They may be right and I accept their right to voice that opinion but in so doing - they must accept other voices as well.