Books from Auroville :

In this update published on April 24, which is the anniversary of Mother’s final arrival in Pondicherry, we are happy to publish many new open-access publications. 

The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, and Integral Yoga

Over the years one of PRISMA’s central mission has been to make the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother widely available through books, open-access publications, audio programs and more. We are happy to report that with this release, we have completed and published in an open-access fashion some twenty book-length publications with high-quality design and editorial features totaling almost 2,000 pages. These projects are available on a gift economy or pay-what-feels-right or name-your-price basis. Some twenty more such offerings are planned, under conceptualization, or being worked upon right now.

Auroville seems to like the idea of offering to the world what it has to offer – the jewels it has gathered over long years – as a gift and as an offering made out of love. Even though there is no guarantee that a book project published in this fashion will make any money, many of our collaborators have requested works in these formats, and we are happy that it serves them. It is also fulfilling to know that a few people may discover Auroville through works published in this fashion. 

Sri Aurobindo And The Mother: THE SUPRAMENTAL TRANSFORMATION

Sri Aurobindo and Mother came here to bring the beginning of the next stage in human evolution. The history of humanity is the continual evolution into greater consciousness on becoming the All-Consciousness and All-Love. Human beings are the most evolved creatures on earth. They are mental beings, ruled by the mind and subject to its limitations. Man’s mind is not capable of encompassing the Supreme All-Consciousness and All-Love. Sri Aurobindo calls the next stage “Supramental” because man will develop beyond the mind’s functions, capacities, and limitations. Both Sri Aurobindo and Mother experienced this new, powerful, all-containing consciousness emerging in themselves. They saw that this consciousness is going to emerge in a wide number of people in a powerful forward step in human evolution. There will be a rapid and complete change compared with the pace of evolution known in human history.

Sri Aurobindo wrote, “To be aware wholly and integrally of oneself and all the truth of one’s being is the necessary condition of true possession of existence. This self-awareness is what is meant by spiritual knowledge; the essence of spiritual knowledge is an intrinsic self-existent consciousness; all its action of knowledge, indeed all its action of any kind must be that consciousness formulating itself.” This is human destiny. The All-Consciousness will now emerge in all of its fullness. It is something entirely new for humanity, and therefore it is not possible to know in advance everything that will happen. Sri Aurobindo and Mother did everything they could to prepare mankind for this new and unknown change which will change everything because it is the emergence of the Supreme All-Consciousness and All-Love into human beings. This is what they call the “Supramental Transformation.

Read the open-access version here ☛
Or, see the print-book ☛ 

THE MOTHER’S YOGA 1956 – 1973

Mother came to live in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1920. They worked together to bring the next stage of human evolution. They both experienced the new light and force which was coming to enable human beings to have the consciousness and the power of the Supreme All-Consciousness and All-Love, the Creation itself. Because this consciousness transforms us into a being with abilities and capacities not found in our minds, Sri Aurobindo called it “Supramental.” Sri Aurobindo worked until December 5, 1950, when he voluntarily left his body to continue his work without being hampered by its still-existing limitations. The supramental force in his body passed into Mother’s body. Mother focused on receiving and its transformation of her being. Mother described her experiences of the new force and the changes that resulted from its influx into her being. She described all the work she did and all the work that we have to do as a total, unconditional surrender to the Supreme All-Consciousness because it will do the work in us.

Mother’s first general experience of the supramental light and consciousness coming down to earth was on February 29, 1956. Her first personal experience was on September 12, 1956, and she saw it radiating out from her to enter into people around her. On October 17, 1957, she understood the mechanism of transformation to be the awakening of the body’s cells. On February 3, 1958, she experienced the permanent existence of the supramental world and the construction of the link between the supramental world and our world in the physical realm. She saw supramental light, power, and substance constantly permeating matter. On July 24-25, 1959, she had the first penetration of the supramental force into her own body. After this, until March 1963, eight months before she left her body, Mother continued to speak of receiving the new force and how it changed her body and its more subtle processes. She spoke of what she called “the change of government” of all the parts of her being, as their complete control was gradually taken up by the Supreme All-Consciousness and the Supreme Will.

Volume One, 1956 – 1967 here ☛
Volume Two, 1968 – 1973 there ☛
And, the print-book here ☛ 

Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri:

The Auroville Radio TalksSri Aurobindo’s Savitri: The Auroville Radio Talks is a four-volume work that emerges from talks recorded by Loretta Shartsis for Auroville Radio over the last seven years. Sri Aurobindo’s epic poem Savitri brings us realizations and consciousness. The underlying story of Savitri comes from the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic. Savitri is a young woman who rescues her husband from Death. Within and around this simple tale, Sri Aurobindo wrote many stories and stories within stories, all of which reveal eternal Truths. He brings to us – and brings us to – all the levels of being that we are and that we live in. He used mystic poetry to communicate the more profound and higher levels of being. He said that he wrote his own experiences and realizations in Savitri. His purpose was to fill the book with the living consciousness that he attained, not to finish it, but to keep rewriting it with every new realization and achievement and communicate everything to the reader.

Read the open-access version here ☛
Or, see the print-book ☛ 

Mother’s Question & Answers: The Auroville Radio Talks

Mother’s Question and Answers: The Auroville Radio Talks is an offering that emerges from talks recorded by Loretta Shartsis for Auroville Radio over the last seven years. This series of Auroville Radio talks on Mother’s Questions and Answers began on July 12, 1955, because it is the first date of the available sound recordings of Mother teaching the class. The original recording of Mother’s class is part of the Radio Talk. It can be heard at the end of each talk. It is well worth listening to even if one does not understand French because it imparts something of Mother’s consciousness to the listener.

Read the open-access version here ☛
Or, see the print-book ☛ 

Sri Aurobindo And Mother: FINDING THE PSYCHIC BEING

The word “Psychic” comes from “Psyche,” the Greek word for the soul. Sri Aurobindo and Mother used it to refer to the individual soul, not to confuse it with the great soul. People who practice Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga are told that their life and their yoga practice will improve when they find their Psychic Being and realize their soul. This is the first stage in his Yoga. Above our head is our Jivatman. The word Jivatman is made up of two Sanskrit words; Jiva, the individual person, and Atman, the great soul. It is uncreated, undying, and unborn. Our Jivatman puts a portion of itself into our heart to be our individual soul. It goes through birth, Death, and rebirth. Because our soul is a pure part of the Supreme Consciousness, it is always conscious of its Divine origin. This inspires and guides us to grow in consciousness until all of our being is conscious of the Divine.

The Psychic Being, at its origin, is only a spark of the divine consciousness in our soul. Our soul contains all the highest qualities, like love, kindness, tenderness, goodness, wisdom, patience, tolerance, generosity, etc. Over innumerable lifetimes, our soul forms and organizes our Psychic Being around itself by putting its high divine qualities into our more outer parts, our mind, vital and physical. Then they are “psychisized.” Eventually, all our psychisized parts vibrate at the same rate and cooperate in the same way. This makes an organized, integrated inner being called our Psychic Being.

Read the open-access version here ☛
Or, see the print-book ☛ 

The Teachings of Flowers: The Life and Work of the Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram

Mother taught that every flower has its own expression of a quality which is also in human beings. She was able to experience a flower’s spiritual essence, and she found that people, flowers, and the earth have the same spiritual aspirations. Mother had the understanding and the mastery over the processes of Nature. With these subtle powers, she understood the spiritual essence of a flower. She learned that flowers naturally transmit their essence to people, and people can be helped by receiving it. She found that she could transmit subtle messages to people by putting them into a flower. She used flowers to help the people who came to her for guidance and help in their spiritual endeavors.

Mother’s perception of a flower’s spiritual essence became another name for the flower. She was able to give significance to over 900 flowers. She also gave a brief comment about the meaning of each one. All of this information is now available in books and on the internet. She used flowers and their spiritual significance constantly and for many different reasons. Today people all over the world benefit from Mother’s flower teachings. Mother left her flower teachings for the children of the earth to follow on their way to humanity’s next stage of evolution.

Read the open-access version here ☛ 

Matrimandir Journal: Digital Revival Edition

Matrimandir, “Mother’s Temple,” is at the center of Auroville and the city is to radiate from this center into its manifold outward expressions. Mother spoke of Matrimandir as “the central force, the force of cohesion in Auroville.” The Matrimandir Journals look at these truths as remarks of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo while exploring the inward psychological and spiritual significance of the elements that compose the center. Elucidating the first condition of Auroville’s Charter: “To live in Auroville one must be the willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness,” Mother explained that the Matrimandir symbolized the Divine Consciousness. The Journals bring forward a selection from the numerous splendors revealed by so comprehensive a spiritual symbol.

Read the open-access version here ☛
Or, see the upcoming print version ☛ 

Children of Change: A Spiritual Pilgrimage

Surveying this panorama of life—from birth in the US Internment Camps through prejudices endured in childhood, leading to maturation of youthful idealism in Mississippi; from inner awakenings in Japan occasioned by the Buddhist spirit, then onwards to the yogic treasure-house of India with its air of miraculous improbability, and finally to Auroville—this is the story of Amrit’s spiritual journey from America to Japan and the Himalayan reaches of India, and finally to The Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, and Auroville. Amrit now offers a portion of his autobiography as an open-access publication.

Read the open-access version here ☛
Or, see the print version ☛ 

Wishing you well!
PRISMA Books of Auroville