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Vol. 44 No.1 THE JOURNAL OF INDIA’S RESURGENCE January 2013

“... all that is bright is but the shadow of His

brightness and by His shining all this shines.”Sri Aurobindo

Contents

From the Editor’s Desk Golconda Diamonds

Manju Bonke 2

The Mother answers Shyamsunder 3

Foothills to equality (Second Part) —II James Anderson 4

A very special National Youth Day Sunaina Mandeen 6

Swami Vivekananda's 1893 Chicago speech Swami Vivekananda 7

Sandy Beaches Sri Aurobindo 8

The Edge of The Sea Ahana Lakshmi 10

Indian Youth In Search of Icons—I Prema Nandakumar 11

The Challenged Coast of India – A summary - Part I PondyCAN 12

Sri Aurobindo's Action The Editorial team 14

Ikea, burritos and some trash Visakh C. R. 15

A Cup of Coffee on the Wall The Internet 16

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2 Sri Aurobindo’s Action – January 2013

From the Editor’s Desk

The Hindu newspaper announced in its International News section:‘Golconda diamond fetches world record price’The rare 76carat diamond, named Archduke Joseph, mined from the erstwhile Golconda kingdom, was sold for a record

price of 16.9 million Euro (about Rs.118 crores).“It is a world record for a Golconda diamond and a world record price per carat for a colourless diamond”Such happenings in the world revive within us the glorious era of India .The Archduke Joseph diamond shares the same lineage as two other world famous diamonds: Koh-i-noor and Hope. The

three diamonds were mined from Golconda or Kollur mines and left Indian shores many years ago.Diamonds and India have a special connection. Golconda diamonds are the best diamonds excavated in the world and

therefore the most prized.During the 14 th through 18 th centuries, many young explorers were drawn to India by tales of riches beyond one’s wildest

dreams and the legend of Sindbad the sailor’s “Valley of Diamonds” is unforgettable.India, once upon a time, was so advanced in scienti c and socioeconomic development that it was referred to as a “Diamond

Bird”. But it is the inextinguishable divine spark, the most precious diamond, the Soul of India, which radiated its brilliance tothe rest of the world. Civilization began here and all branches of knowledge are said to have originated from Indian Philosophyand Culture which were disseminated across the globe through the dedicated endeavour of the Rishis. Once upon a time Indiawas described as a land of heavenly life; the 33 crores manifestations of Gods mentioned in the Indian scriptures referred tothe inhabitants of this ancient India.

Today, India is not even a shadow of its glorious past. Oblivious of its vast civilization and culture, dumbly imitating thewest, after 65 years of independence, it still remains unable to unshackle itself from its colonial past and steer itself towards itsspiritual destiny. Once upon a time India had bestowed its knowledge, guidance and creative help upon the rest of the world.The precious diamonds left Indian shores, the vast treasures of Indian civilization lie buried and forgotten, and India now

blindly gropes for guidance abroad when the guidance is embedded within its ancient soil.The world at present is facing a big crisis. The very survival of the human race appears to be facing the unprecedented risk

of extinction. Re nement of the value system and puri cation of the external and internal environment of life have therefore become necessary…The Indian system has all the elements required for the sustenance of progressive life and the rise andculmination of human values to divine heights. There is a need to recover this accumulated treasure of the old spiritualknowledge and experiences. It is the most essential task for us Indians. We have to learn to look at the old truths with a newlight and give to these old TRUTHS fresh aspects and novel potentialities to help steer our lives in these modern times.

Not that foreign in uences have to be neglected, in any case that is impossible in this interconnected world of today. But theyhave to be rightly assimilated for our own renewal and recovery.

Wake up Indians. We are a Special Race. We have forgotten the gift God has bestowed on us.The Indian culture taught to the rest of the world the basis of life, the way to live with the three-fold path of spirituality –

Knowledge, Works and Devotion.Walk and live like the Rishis and awaken an inner light in the world.Decipher the enigmatic words of the Rishis to adapt them to present times and illumine the world with Indian WISDOM.

We can do it and we MUST.Sri Aurobindo writes: ‘We are no ordinary race. We are a people ancient as our hills and rivers and we have behind us a

history of manifold greatness, not surpassed by any other race, we are the descendants of those who performed Tapasya andunderwent unheard of austerities for the sake of spiritual gain and of their own will submitted to all the sufferings of whichhumanity is capable….

We are people in whom God has chosen to manifest himself more than any other at many great moments of our history.’As we step into this New Year - let the resurgence of that golden era of India be the theme of our life.

M anju B onk

Golconda Diamonds

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Sri Aurobindo’s Action – January 2013

Shyamsunder: To be what the Mother wants, isn't this to be transformed?

Mother: For all, to prepare themselves for this transformationFor some, to begin the work of transformationFor a very small number, to hasten the process of transformation

25.6.69

The Mother answers Shyamsunder

Cypress tree

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Foothills to equality (Second Part)—II

(Continued from December 2012)

Endurance

The rst mountain we have to climb is through endurance. SriAurobindo writes:

“Ordinarily we have to begin with a period of endurance;for we must learn to confront, to suffer and to assimilateall contacts. Each bre in us must be taught not to winceaway from that which pains and repels and not to runeagerly towards that which pleases and attracts, butrather to accept, to face, to bear and to conquer…. Thisis the stoical period of the preparation of equality, itsmost elementary and yet its heroic age. But this steadfast

endurance of the esh and heart and mind must bereinforced by a sustained sense of spiritual submissionto a divine Will: this living clay must yield not only witha stern or courageous acquiescence, but with knowledgeor with resignation, even in suffering, to the touch of thedivine Hand that is preparing its perfection (2).”

Before this, we usually have to move forward through our blood, sweat and tears. We have to grit our teeth, try to keepopen and wait for something new to take over. That is why asimple faith and surrender is such an asset; they save a lot of wasted labour. Otherwise, we have to try to make the best use of

the tools that nature has given us. The outer mind copes as bestit can but we can endure more easily when the strength of thespirit starts to come forward. So true endurance surely appearswhen the soul at last nds some resilience and strength:

“The gain of this period of resignation and endurance is thesoul’s strength equal to all shocks and contacts (3).”

The will is central to endurance; for that, the process of individualisation must be complete. Ordinarily, we ndourselves divided in our will, pulled around in very differentdirections. The only solution is to learn to unify our being.The Mother says:

“To learn how to will is a very important thing. And to willtruly, you must unify your being. In fact, to be a being, onemust rst unify oneself. If one is pulled by absolutely oppositetendencies, if one spends three-fourths of one’s life without

being conscious of himself and the reasons why he does things,is one a real being? One does not exist. One is a mass of in uences, movements, forces, actions, reactions, but one is nota being. One begins to become a being when one begins to havea will. And one can’t have a will unless one is uni ed (4).”

Sri Aurobindo calls this period the most heroic stage of growth because it relies upon personal effort and, as long as

the lower nature is active, our effort is necessary. It may eventake a considerable effort to accept that something new istaking charge.

I look around me and I see quite a few unsung heroes, people whose backbone amounts to no more than a simplefaith in the divine Grace. After the devastation caused by therecent cyclone* here, they just seemed to get on with their lives and good-naturedly went about their work to clear up themess. That, for me, was true heroism.

Two sides

Interestingly, the Mother distinguishes between equality of the soul and equality of the body. Indeed, both are needed:

“The equality of the soul is a psychological thing. It is the power to bear all happenings, good or bad, without being sad,discouraged, desperate, upset. Whatever happens, you remainserene, peaceful.

“The other is the equality in the body. It is not psychological,it is something material, to have a physical poise, to receiveforces without being troubled.”

“The two are equally necessary if one wants to progress onthis path. And other things still. For example, a mental poise;such that all possible ideas, even the most contradictory, maycome from all sides without one’s being troubled. One can seethem and put each in its place. That is mental poise (5).”

Establishing equanimity in the body gives us the necessary platform to expand and grow. The material base also needsto be suf ciently sturdy for the whole process of change t

become total and complete:

“It is good health, a solid body, well poised; when one doesnot have the nerves of a little girl that are shaken by the leastthing; when one sleeps well, eats well…. When one is quitecalm, well balanced, very quiet, one has a solid basis and canreceive a large number of forces (6).”

It is very evident to me that this equanimity can only be based on a solid foundation inside. I guess that the situation becomes a little more problematic when there is an inherentweakness within the body itself. Because of this, it has becomeever more imperative for me to align it around the only thingthat can cement it into a truer shape, and that is the soul.

The physical must also be taught to endure before it canconquer. The body needs to be robust in order to surmount theshocks it daily faces. In addition to becoming dynamic andsupple, it also needs a quality of immobility. With the impactsthat beset it on this path of growth, it sometimes needs to belike a rock. Building a hardy physique through exercise isnecessary, but I believe that the ultimate prerequisite must bekeeping it open to the divine Force. It is only this Force which

* On 30th December, 2011, Cyclone Thane struck the Tamil Nadu coastline between Chennai and Karaikal

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can instil a peace that truly sustains. To let the Force saturateevery pore of the body is now this body’s only panacea: it hascome down to that.

Even the nerves themselves have to become equal to everyimpact. I nd that the state of equality, at least in my brief glimpses, can only be founded on this peace. And peacedoesn’t have to be static. As the Mother has observed, therecan be a dynamic aspect to it too. I believe that when the Peaceis allowed to totally reside in the body, physical equanimity isestablished. The Mother tells us that even our cells can radiatethis peace .1

I believe that is a continuous process and that calls for persistence with heaps of patience. The body must grow soaccustomed to the Force it can even become indivisible fromit. I am sure I am no exception but, as time passes, my lifework becomes ever clearer: simply to open the body to thein uence of the spirit. Then at last, in one eternal second, the

body might nd itself moved by it.

The threshold

Rising higher, further preparatory periods of growth areidenti ed by Sri Aurobindo in The Synthesis of Yoga . It isvery evident that much work has already been done to getthere. Clearly the lessons learned in the lower climbs are verynecessary for the more exacting requirements that lie ahead.

Clearly, narrow demarcations cannot be superimposed ontoanything as complex and far-reaching as the Integral Yoga.We must also allow variation for the complexities of our nature. Sri Aurobindo’s intentions were clearly to lay out the

broad lines of progress in this work. I’ve often heard it termedthe ‘roadmap’ of His long and sometimes tortuous path. But itis clear that the work we put in at the early stages instils in uscapacities that will later make our equality concrete and true.

Sri Aurobindo tells us that three great summits need to beconquered before one can enter the brilliance of a perfectequality. These are endurance, indifference and submission:will, knowledge and love. We also nd ourselves drawn intoa two-fold path over this transition. Two poises are necessary.We start by opening to a ‘passive equality’, where wegradually unravel from the bonds of our lower nature. This

process might begin very early and is, initially at least, largelya matter of self-protection. I found myself examining theignorance almost from day one of life here and I don’t believeI’m an exception. There is a Force which simply impels it. Weneed to hold our heads high amid the madness of the everydayworld. Not least of all, we need to ‘protect’ ourselves fromdisturbance inside.

Later, Sri Aurobindo writes, our equality becomes more‘active’ and ‘positive’. We expand and widen ourselves. Our equality starts to project outwards from the narrower frameof our individuality. As the individual nds wholeness, hestarts to expand into the universe. As he starts to becomeone, he begins to realise the oneness that lies in all things.His will becomes uni ed and aligned to the Divine. Hisknowledge expands beyond every boundary and reaches upto the frontiers of the Supermind. His love becomes vast andtransforms into waves of universal Ananda. He can even seethe key to evolution. The enigma of existence becomes bare.Active equality surely beholds the soul in everything :

“One will liberate us from the action of the lower natureand admit us to the calm peace of the divine being; theother will liberate us into the full being and power of the higher nature and admit us to the equal poise anduniversality of a divine and in nite knowledge, will of action, Ananda (8).”

The state of equality, for me, represents a pinnacle of supreme balance and it only manifests harmony in all it perceives. Itis clearly the highest rung of Integral Health. In truth, it iswhat we all are in essence. Each of us is whole and intactand indivisible from the essential oneness. In that oneness,the innate delight steps forward to saturate our being. It is our love which does this and it surely comes in adoration at thefeet of the Divine Mother.

j aMes a nderson

(Concluded )

References

2. Op. cit. SABCL, Volume 20. Pondicherry; Sri AurobindoAshram Trust, 1970, p.214.

3. Ibid.4. Op. cit. Collected Works of the Mother, Volume 6.

Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1979, p.348.5. Op. cit. Collected Works of the Mother, Volume 5.

Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1976, pp.23-4.

6. Ibid. p. 23.7. Op. cit. Collected Works of the Mother, Volume 14.

Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1980, p.384.8. Op. cit. SABCL, Volume 21. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo

Ashram Trust, 1970, p.681.

1 The Mother’s words: “Peace in the cells: the indispensable condition for the body’s progress (7).”

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A very special National Youth Day

In 1984, the Government of India declared the birthday of Swami Vivekananda, the 12th of January, as National Youth Daywith a communication saying:

“it was felt that the philosophy of Swamiji and the ideals for which he lived and worked could be a great source of inspirationfor the Indian Youth.’’

How appropriate that the birthday of this great young hero of modern India be celebrated as the national youth day! On the12th of January, 2013, the world will celebrate his 150th birth anniversary. To commemorate it, the Ramakrishna Missionis organizing various projects for integrated child development, for the improvement of children’s health by eliminatingmalnutrition, for empowerment of women, and for alleviating poverty.

In the middle of 1890, Swami Vivekananda embarked upon his famous journey of exploration and discovery of India, and hecriss-crossed the whole country to try to nd out what was holding India back. He discovered that the real cause of India’sdownfall was the neglect of the masses, who rst needed food and the bare necessities of life. He realised that the downtroddenmasses, due to centuries of oppression, had lost faith in their capacity to improve. He wanted them to be taught improvedmethods of agriculture, as well as the creation of local industries to enable them to grow their own food and be self-supporting.It was during this journey that he also came to Pondicherry in 1893, just a few months before he went to the now legendaryParliament of Religions in Chicago and took the message of India’s wisdom to the world.

Of him, Rabindranath Tagore said: “If you want to know India, study Vivekananda. In him everything is positive and nothing negative.”

In 1907, Sri Aurobindo wrote in the Bande Mataram: But why should not India then be the rst power in the world? Who else has the undisputed right to extend spiritual sway over the world? This was Swami Vivekananda’s plan of campaign. India can once more be made conscious of her greatness by anovermastering sense of the greatness of her spirituality. This sense of greatness is the main feeder of all patriotism. This onlycan put an end to all self-depreciation and generate a burning desire to recover the lost ground.

Swami Vivekananda said: My ideal indeed can be put into a few words and that is: to preach unto mankind their divinity, and how to make it manifest inevery movement of life.

That you may catch my re, that you may be intensely sincere, that you may die the heroes’ death on the eld of battle -- is theconstant prayer of Vivekananda.

What better tribute can we give to this Icon of Modern India but to try with intense sincerity to manifest our divinity in everymovement of our own lives?

s unaina M andeen

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Swami Vivekananda's 1893 Chicago speech

11th September, 1893

Sisters and Brothers of America

It lls my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcomewhich you have given us. l thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monksin the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions; and I thank you in thename of the millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects. My thanks,also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from theOrient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of

bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion whichhas taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only inuniversal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nationwhich has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of

the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnantof the Israelites, who came to the southern India and took refuge with us in the veryyear in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proudto belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of thegrand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn whichI remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated bymillions of human beings:

As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different pathswhich men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to thee.

The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to theworld, of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita:

Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.

Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have lled theearth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair.Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come;and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism,of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to thesame goal.

s waMi V iVekananda

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Sand

The Ramanathapuram Beach

The blue sea dances like a girl

With sapphire and with pearl Crowning her locks. Sunshine and dew

Each morn delicious life renew.

s ri a uroBindo

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Beaches

The beach at Mamallapuram

There is no disturbance in the depths of the Ocean, but

above there is the joyous thunder of its shouting and itsracing shoreward; so is it with the liberated soul in themidst of violent action. The soul does not act; it onlybreathes out from itself overwhelming action.

Thoughts and Aphorisms

s ri a uroBindo

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The Edge of The Sea

Rejuvenating ourselves in this unquiet world is essential. Thesimplest and the best way is to spend a while communing withnature to infuse in us a sense of tranquillity. Mountains areattractive and so are forests. Did not our ancient rishis meditateatop mountains? Think of the Jain or Buddhist monasteries.Most of them were built away from bustling crowds, nestlingin caves in hills. But mountains and forests are not everyday getaways. Sandy beaches, on the other hand, are equallyattractive but easier to access. It is no wonder that the coast isthe preferred place to live in and there is nothing like a trip tothe beach to recharge oneself.

Why is it that amongst nature wondrous splendours, it is beaches that are so attractive? The reasons are not too far off to nd. I was lucky to have been born not too far from a beachand my childhood is replete with visits to the beach. The rstattraction is of course the sand. As a child, you promptly sitdown and start building castles. You grab a handful of sandand let it trickle through your ngers and watch the grains

pour out. You repeat that action again and again, the tactile pleasure that is not easily described. It just does not feel thesame when you do it in the garden. Years later, you visit the

beach again and sit down on the sands. Subconsciously your ngers reach out to the sand and repeat that action of allowingsand to trickle through. That simple action re-establishesthe direct, organic connection to the earth, bhoodevi . Thesand varies in colour and texture. Sometimes it is ne sand,smooth of texture, almost muddy. You see patterns drawn bythe waves as they lap the shore and recede keeping time witha celestial conductor that only they know about. A curve of

black grains builds up in a background of pale yellow, almostwhite sand. Some of the grains glitter as they catch the sun for they are charged with minerals. In places where the mineralconcentration is high, the sand is black, like in Kovalam near Trivandrum. In other places, the sand is coarse, the grainsare golden like brown sugar. Tiny shells of various shapes,sizes and colours, delicately patterned, are interspersed in thesand. Occasionally one nds a large shell, a spiny murex or asmooth cowrie.

As your ngers play with the sand, you stare at the sea. If it is a surf beaten coast, you hear a sound that is like a drumroll. The waters swell, they appear to do a somersault and thenform a series of waves as they foam their way towards land,

faster and faster, till their energy is spent and they roll back into the sea. No two waves are identical and so, watching thewaves swell and fall does not pall at all. It is a continuousaction that calms you down, lulls you into tranquillity without

being sopori c. Perhaps it is the ne salty spray on your faceand the ozone tinged air that you breathe that makes you feelrefreshed. The foaming waves mesmerize you, calling out toyou till you stand at the edge of the sea, your feet sinking intothe wet sand. As Sri Aurobindo wrote in To the Sea:

O grey wild sea,Thou hast a message, thunderer, for me.

Their huge wide backsThy monstrous billows raise, abysmal cracks

Dug deep between.One pale boat utters over them, hardly seen.

I hear thy roar

Call me, “Why dost thou linger on the shoreWith fearful eyes

Watching my tops visit their foam-washed skies? …..”

You watch the waves bearing down at you, make as if to moveaway but the waves gently swirl around your feet, and leavea curved signature behind you. No two waves make the same

patterns, this small feature gives you an inclination of what theymean when they say that shorelines are dynamic, constantlychanging, for as the waves arrive and depart, they bring and takeaway with them grains of sand. Beaches are formed when waveskeep bringing more and more sand grains, depositing them andallowing the shoreline to extend into the sea. Sometimes theytake more than they bring – that is when erosion takes place and

beaches disappear. Byron’s lines come to mind:

“Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean-roll!Ten thousand eets sweep over thee in vain;

Man marks the earth with ruin - his control Stops with the shore.”

It is this music of the sea that lls your ears that makes youable to connect with nature even in the middle of a crowd.You now walk along the shoreline and begin to observe thecrabs swiftly moving out of their burrows as the waves recede,quickly grabbing tasty morsels that only they can see thathave been brought in by the wave and then scuttling back totheir burrows as they feel the next wave begin to arrive. Hereis a rock, an island jutting out. The sides look patchy whiteas if carelessly sprayed with whitewash. A closer look showsyou lines of barnacles in their homes shaped like miniaturevolcanoes, waiting to be sprayed as the waves break on therock. There are patches of green – tenacious seaweed that areable to survive in this hostile environment and limpets, ovaland round, grazing on the green patches.

Is that the only green in this expanse of golden brown on oneside and the bluish-green waters on the other? You move awayfrom the sea and walk towards land. It is a bit of a climb, naturally,

for it is this mild elevation that keeps the sea from ooding theland. Here and there are sandy hillocks covered with clumpsof spiny growth, a grass called Spinifex, aptly known in thevernacular as Ravana’s moustache. It is known for its tenaciouscapacity as a sand binder. There is a wild beauty associated withit, merging with the background, yet proudly visible. And thenthere are stretches of green Ipomea with purple owers peepingout. You are now back on land, completely refreshed.

a hana L akshMi

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Indian Youth In Search of Icons—I

Often I hear complaints from the younger generation that our culture has become outmoded. “We are in the 21 st century” isa sentence repeatedly ung at me. This is the age of electronicmastery of communications. Science and technology are fastsubduing the unknown. So they say and turn away to whatthey consider new horizons, holding in hand the new icons of inspiration: the cellphone at the ears, the laptop in one handand the glossy in ight magazine in the other.

I do not blame them. In an attempt to show that Indian culturehas had the strength to survive twenty to thirty centuries withease, we have unconsciously made it appear as a Methusalehout of touch with the modern world. Our scholars repeatedlytry to push back the dates of our scriptures as if age alone isholiness. If our Vedas, Upanishads, epics and Puranas havesurvived all these centuries, it is because they have carriedSauragni in them, the powers of Savita whom we continue toevoke for gathering inspiration:

Om tat savitur varenyam bhargo dhevasya dheemahi Dheyo yo na prachodayat

Consider this one verse of 24 syllables and watch how it has been the mainstay of innumerable paramparas, from the mostorthodox Vedic religions to the Su paramparas of dervishes.How can we put an “age” to it?

Another problem that has unconsciously affected the psycheof the younger generation in keeping away from our culture

has been the visual representation of our sages in sculpture, painting, lms. They seem to be always old people, havingmatted hair and long beards. Once again, the unconsciouscomes to the fore. What can this old fogey advice me aboutmy problem today? The contrast is made sharper because of the association of wisdom today with “a well groomed look”as a Master of Business Administration or the Director of aMultinational. The very richness of Indian culture – so wide,so deep – has also been a deterrent. What is Indian culture? Isthere no single point on which I can remain focused? HenceIndian youth stands today somewhat perplexed about the

phenomenon of our culture. The youth generation would like

to know what constitutes the core of this tradition which couldhelp them advance in life, material as well as spiritual. But battered by the visual media the answer seems to be elusive.

Fortunately for us, a little over a hundred years ago, an eventoccurred which replicated the Upanishadic times. A guru wasseen surrounded by his disciples in a temple at Kolkata. Notmuch went on except conversation. A conversation that wasinterspersed with devotional hymns. The guru himself wasnot very old and many of the disciples were just teenagers.

That was a time when English education and the Western wayof living had taken Indian youth in its vice-like grip. Thatwas the time when precious palm leaf manuscripts were

being thrown away in the Ganges or Cauvery as worthlessscribblings of incomprehensible religious paramparas. Thatwas the time when British rule over India seemed destined tolast for ever and ever.

Sri Aurobindo, a young man of twenty-two, educatedat Cambridge returns home in 1893 and hears of this guru.By then Sri Ramakrishna has withdrawn from the physicaland Swami Vivekananda, another young man of thirty ismesmerizing America. Sri Aurobindo, red by an intenselove of his motherland and eager to get his countrymen outof the swoon of “Videshi Mahaamoha” is thrilled and heings his challenge at the British Empire. Remember, heannounces: Macaulay’s victims have become devotees of SriRamakrishna! Speaking to a large audience at Mahajan Wadi,Bombay on 19 th January, 1908, Sri Aurobindo said quietly thatif one had faith in God, God will nd a way to speak to our

heart: “It is to the heart that God speaks, it is in the heart thatGod resides.” Some of the highly educated men of Bengalhad not ceased to believe in God and when the time came, itwas easy for them to recognize the voice of God. If they hadnot had this faith, they would not have recognized any meritin Indians who had not had their “English education”.

“One of them, the man who had the greatest in uence andhas done the most to regenerate Bengal, could not read andwrite a single word. He was a man who had been what theycall absolutely useless to the world. But he had this one divinefaculty in him, that he had more than faith and had realizedGod.”

There were the scoffers who did say such men were “uselessto society”. What is the use of a temple priest who can onlyintone some ritualistic mantras? Even in our own times wehave such myopic men who dismiss him as no more than afrenzied priest of a Kali temple. Did he know Kant? Did heinvent any technological instrument? Would he have beenable to handle the keys of a Remington typewriter that was onthe market in his time? But in his own time, Sri Ramakrishnawas recognized as a man of God by eminent intellectuals aswell. Sri Aurobindo writes of those times:

“But God knew what he was doing. He sent that manto Bengal and set him in the temple of Dakshineshwar inCalcutta, and from North and South and East and West, theeducated men, men who were the pride of the university, whohad studied all that the Europe can teach, came to fall at thefeet of this young ascetic. The work of salvation, the work of raising India was begun.”

P reMa n andakuMar

(To be continued )

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The Challenged Coast of India – A summary - Part I

This is the rst part of a very short summary of the report“The Challenged Coast of India” which is over 230 pages.

Introduction

The coast is the interface between the sea and the land, a placethat is constantly changing in time and space. Coastal areasalso harbour a variety of ecosystems such as mangroves, coralreefs, seagrass beds, mud ats and sandy shores which areregions of high biodiversity. The coast is also very vulnerableto a variety of natural hazards such as cyclones and tsunamis.People have always lived on or near the coast for the relativelyequitable climate, apart from important coastal livelihoodssuch as sheries and coastal agriculture.

Today’s globalization requires movement of large quantitiesof raw materials and nished goods, and consequently thereis strong emphasis on the development of ports and harbours.Concomitantly, the areas around the port are also under development pressure – for industries, tourism and settlements.Coastal land use and land cover is changing rapidly withurbanization and industrialization. Natural ecosystems arestressed and there is a breakdown or deterioration in ecosystemservices. Destruction of habitats has been reported as one of thetop causes for loss of biodiversity according to the Conventionon Biological Diversity.

Overall, the Indian coast is under tremendous pressure – from population and ‘development’. However, there areno assessments available at the national level to provideestimates of the extent of the coast that is actually occupied

by various human activities, and their possible impacts oncoastal biodiversity.

COP 11 of the CBD in India

As part of the activities of the National Coastal ProtectionCampaign (NCPC) for the eleventh Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD COP 11, P dyCAn

(Pondy Citizens’ Action Network) along with tIss (TataInstitute of Social Sciences) with funding support from BnHs took up the responsibility of preparing the position paper for C a al Ar a Ma ag m i I dia to provide concreteinformation about the distribution of human activities ata national level using “Google Earth” maps and other geo-spatial navigation tools as well as from available literatureand supported by secondary information.

The Study

India’s Coastal Regulation Zone Noti cation issued under theEnvironment (Protection) Act, 1986. designates a distanceof 500 metres landward from the high tide line as the CoastalRegulation Zone (CRZ), where activities are restricted (thosethat do not require waterfront are largely prohibited). CoastalZone Management Plans (CZMP) are to be prepared by eachstate. Non-availability of these maps makes it dif cult for civilsociety as well as the primary stakeholders to take informeddecisions about large-scale activities being planned in coastalareas.

Coastal Biodiversity

Coastal wetlands, among the most productive of ecosystems,have been mapped by the Space Application Centre ascovering 40,230 km 2. Major ecosystems here include

mangroves, mud ats, salt marshes, coral reefs, seagrass beds,estuaries and lagoons, all of which are highly productiveand support extensive sheries and associated livelihoods.Probably only about a third of India’s coastal habitats have

been surveyed for biodiversity, with mostly commerciallyimportant n sh and shell sh, corals, larger reptiles andmammals inventoried. Mangroves of the Sunderbans of WestBengal, Coringa in Andhra Pradesh and Bhitarkanika inOdisha are well known.

The coastal lagoons of Chilika, Pulicat and Vembanad aswell as the Rann of Kachchh are important stop-over points for migratory birds. While some areas and speci c species have

been given various forms/levels of protection under Indianlaws, physical alteration and destruction of habitats, especiallyof mangroves and mud ats, is a major threat to biodiversity.In this study, 17 protected areas were mapped along the coast,covering a length of 647.46 km, about 10% of the coastline.

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Coastal Settlements

India has a large number of coastal cities, including the twomegacities of Mumbai and Kolkata, Chennai, Tuticorin,Cuddalore, Visakhapatnam, Puducherry, Kochi, Mangaloreand Surat. Many of the port cities are also becomingindustrial hubs and transforming into urban agglomerations.There are a number of smaller towns and villages locatedalong the coast with populations largely dependent onagriculture and shing. This study found 1,262 settlementsalong the coast occupying 1,411.17 km, or more than 21%of the coastline.

Marine shing communities live close to the shoreline andform a sizeable population. While most states have permanentsettlements of marine shers, there are places where seasonal

migration takes place when the shing communities camp intemporary shelters. The Central Marine Fisheries ResearchInstitute’s Census of 2010 estimates that the marine shingcommunity consists of 42,53,451 people in 9,18,340 familiesliving in 3,288 villages across the 9 states and 2 union territoriesof the mainland. Of these, 90% belong to traditional sher families. Odisha has the maximum number of settlements(813) followed by Tamil Nadu (573). Tamil Nadu has thelargest population of marine shers (8.02 lakhs), followed byWest Bengal (6.34 lakhs) and Kerala (6.10 lakhs).

Pondy Can(To be continued )

Old Lamp for New Oil

Some thoughts haunt in the cold morning fog,When the limbs curl up clinging To familiar warmth, under the bog Of accumulated days of living.

Need to shake the slumber, Awake and put on the shoes. Pound the pavement asunder Chase away the blues.

New and true, true and newThe riddle of perpetual youthThat elusive elixir fed to the few

Need to steal, rob, reveal the truth.

One more day on the horizon,One more chance to take life on.

C handresh

Errata

W d ply r gr an inadvertent error on page 10 of our November 2012 issue where, in the box on the top of the page

entitled On Indian Architecture XI, instead of the followingquotation from Sri Aurobindo, the text on the previous pages8 and 9 was repeated.

The Eds team apologises for this error.

The box should have read as below

On Indian Architecture - XI

Indian sacred architecture of whatever date, style or dedication goes back to something timelessly ancient and

now outside India almost wholly lost, something which belongs to the past, and yet it goes forward too, though thisthe rationalistic mind will not easily admit, to somethingwhich will return upon us and is already beginning to return,something which belongs to the future. An Indian temple,to whatever godhead it may be built, is in its inmost realityan altar raised to the divine Self, a house of the CosmicSpirit, an appeal and aspiration to the In nite.

s ri a uroBindo

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Sri Aurobindo's Action

In the Mother’s words:

“The only and unique aim of Sri Aurobindo’s Action is the country – India”

“India has to guard her independence. India has to defend herself. India has to reorganise herself”

“The only solution of the country’s problems is what Sri Aurobindo has given in His writings. He has replied to all questions, including capitalism, communism, political organisation. Theseare to be put together. And He wrote in English but as many Indians do not know English it isnecessary to translate in the languages which they understand. His message has to be spread all over the country, His solutions are to be shown to all who wish to know.”

This is what the Sri Aurobindo’s Action journal has aspired for since its very rst issue, which came out in October 1970 withManoj Das as its editor followed by Shyam Sunder, who remained its editor from April 1973 till his passing away on July 28th2011. Manju Bonke and Sunaina Mandeen who have been assisting Shyam Sunder with this publication since the last severalyears, now form the editorial team and strive to work towards India’s Resurgence, through the journal.

But, this needs your active participation. It is only a collective action that can bring about this long awaited and much neededresurgence that we all wish for.

So please start by giving feed back, by sending your contributions, photos, pieces of writing, poems, sketches, and letters.

Please also send your phone numbers and email IDs to us at [email protected] and visit our websitewww.sriaurobindosaction.org

The Mother’s message in April 1972 said:

India shall take her true place in the world only when she will becomeintegrally the messenger of the Divine Life.

Let us welcome the New Year 2013 , with a promise to ourselvesto ful ll the Mother’s message actively and sincerely.

The e diToriaL TeaM

(Manju Bonke & Sunaina Mandeen)

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Ikea, burritos and some trash

“Sell your garbage for Rs.10 a kilogram.”

“Swap your old newspaper, bottles and garbage for groceries.”

These are some statements which any city dweller will dream about. But it’s true and is happening in this world.Sweden, a Scandinavian country, with around nine million residents, generates 4.8 million tonnes of trash a year but only 4

per cent of it ends up in land ll. Thanks to Sweden’s highly successful and ef cient waste management system, they have nowrun out of trash!

Sweden has developed an enviable system in which much of the household waste is recovered or recycled. The ‘waste-to-energy’ programme converts waste into energy to power one- fth of the district heating systems, and also provides electricityto around 2,50,000 houses.

The problem is that Sweden is faced with a situation where it has to look for more garbage to burn. So, it has turned to itsneighbours for help. It is planning to import 800,000 tonnes of trash to cope with the shortage. Norway has already startedsending loads of trash and the Swedish authorities are looking forward to signing new trade agreements with Italy, Romania,Bulgaria and other Baltic countries to satiate their ‘garbage power plants.’

The cautious might point out that burning waste will produce harmful chemicals. It’s true, and as per the agreement with Norway, Sweden will return the ashes (which contain harmful chemicals such as dioxins). It’s up to the Norwegian authoritiesto clean it up. And Norwegians are happy, since it’s cheaper than recycling the trash themselves.

In another corner of the world, a country, which is known mostly for its guns, drugs and cuisine, is making progress withinnovative ways of handling trash. In Mexico City, capital of Mexico, the 21 million residents have found a new way to buygroceries and vegetables. It’s a giant step forward, but Mexican authorities have taken a leaf out of our ancestors’ book. SinceMarch 2012, they have been running a market which works based on the barter system.

It’s as simple as it can get. Bring your trash, especially paper, plastic and bottles, and get locally-grown food items in return.It’s estimated that the market collects around 20 tonnes of scrap every month. The government subsidises the prices. As T

Economist points out, the scrap is sold to recyclers for 40,000 pesos ($ 3066), and the food items are bought from local farmers

for 90,000 pesos ($6,900). The government chips in with the difference. But this is a very little amount to pay for a trashmanagement system which not only reduces the headache for the local authorities but also encourages local farmers at thesame time.

Sweden’s process is technologically highly advanced, whereas Mexico’s is a back-to-the-basics approach. Both are workingwell, and the city-dwellers as well as the authorities are heaving a sigh of relief. Instead of waking up to the foul smell of rottinggarbage and driving through streets lled with trash, the Scandinavians can relax with the heating system fully on during coldand chilly winter nights. As for the Mexicans, well, they can enjoy a burrito with some guacamole made from the locallygrown avocados.

If only we could implement one of these initiatives our cities, which teem with garbage! But how many of us will bother tosegregate our trash? And how many more scams will they create?

Visakh C. r.

Courtesy, The Hindu, Nov 25, 2012

We are reminded of the times when in our neighborhoods too people would come to collect old clothes, broken plastic andglass against which we could get new pots and pans. There was also a time when we could barter recyclable material for locallygrown vegetables. Solutions are all around us, we just need to make up our minds to nd them and implement them. And therst step to any solution for the issue of garbage that looms huge in our daily lives in all our towns and cities is segregation atsource, a habit that needs to be developed by each and every Indian. – Eds team

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REGISTERED: TN/PMG(CCR)/113/12–14Sanction to post without pre-payment

WPP No. Reg. with the Registrar of Newspapers for India No. R.N. 18134:70

Dates of posting: 29th & 30th of every month

www.sriaurobindosaction.org

Quotations from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother are printed with the kind permission of Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust.

Printed at a LL i ndia P ress . Puducherry, by Nishant Jhunjhunwala and published by him on belhalf of s ri a uroBindo ’s a CTion , P uduCherry —605002, i ndia

Founder Editor : s hyaM s under , Editorial Team: Manju Bonke and Sunaina Mandeen, e-mail: [email protected]

Subscription: I la d Rs. 80 (Annual for individuals), Rs. 100 (Annual for libraries/institutions) Rs. 1600 (25 years for individuals)ov r a (sea) $ 10 (annual) $ 200 (25 years), (air) $ 20 (annual) $ 400 (25 years) Single Copy : Rs. 10.00

A Cup of Coffee on the Wall

I sat with my friend in a well-known coffee shop in a neighboring town of Venice, the city of lights and water. Aswe enjoyed our coffee, a man entered and sat at an empty table beside us. He called the waiter and placed his order

saying, ‘Two cups of coffee, one of them there on the wall.’ We heard this order with interest and observed that hewas served with one cup of coffee but he paid for two. As soon as he left, the waiter pasted a piece of paper on thewall saying ‘A Cup of Coffee’.

While we were still there, two other men entered and ordered three cups of coffee, two on the table and one on thewall. They had two cups of coffee but paid for three and left. This time also, the waiter did the same; he pasted a

piece of paper on the wall saying, ‘A Cup of Coffee’.

It seemed that this gesture was a norm at this place. However, it was something unique and perplexing for us. Sincewe had nothing to do with the matter, we nished our coffee, paid the bill and left.

After a few days, we again had a chance to go to this coffee shop. While we were enjoying our coffee, a man entered.The way this man was dressed did not match the standard nor the atmosphere of this coffee shop. Poverty wasevident from the looks on his face. As he seated himself, he looked at the wall and said, one cup of coffee from thewall. The waiter served coffee to this man with the customary respect and dignity. The man had his coffee and leftwithout paying. We were amazed to watch all this when the waiter took off a piece of paper from the wall and threwit in the dust bin. Now it was no surprise for us – the matter was very clear. The great respect for the needy shown

by the inhabitants of this town welled up our eyes in tears.

Coffee is not a need of our society neither a necessity of life for us. The point to note is that when we take pleasurein many blessings, maybe we also need to think about those people who appreciate that speci c blessing as much aswe do but they cannot afford to have it.

Note the character of this waiter, who is playing a consistent and generous role to get this profound communicationgoing between the affording and the needy with a smile on his face.

Ponder upon the need of what this man wants…He enters the coffee shop without having to lower his self-esteem…He has no need to ask for a free cup of coffee…Without asking or knowing about the one who is giving this cup of coffee to him…He only looked at the wall, placed an order for himself, enjoyed his coffee and left.

When we analyze this story, along with the other characters, we need to remember the role played by the wall thatre ects the generosity and care of the dwellers of this town. Probably the most beautiful mural you may ever seeanywhere!!!

C ourTesy : The i nTerneT

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