Cleft Between Superficial and Psychic Life at Puducherry!!!
Puducherry, once a French province, the southern city of India, now a tourist’s hub,
Laden with vast coastline, beach, monuments and pubs!!
For the holidaymakers, it is a retreat from the hustle and bustle of busy city,
Restaurants with delicious cuisine, is indeed a treat for the foody!!
For the travelling architect, the city offers in bountiful,
The heritage bungalows, French architectural edifice, so beautiful!!
For the pubescent, the new norm of the era – skimpy attire, gadgets and bottles of beer,
What is life without beach, weekend party, friends, selfies and a cheer???
Uploading photos on social media – counting the likes and comments,
Happiness at the superficial level is only but for a moment.
The peripheral life, at Puducherry, in the last few years has gained a spur,
People throng the city, but without a mystical nudge!!
On the contrary, this city life also revolves around the psychic era,
Unknown to majority tech-savvy society about the Spiritual aura!!!
Puducherry has the alluring, serene Ashram,
Beautifully pious amidst a quiet locale!!!
A white marble shrine, under a tree-shaded courtyard,
The Samadhi of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother!!!
Devotees vent out their emotions and meditate in the quadrangle,
This supramental pleasure is truly perpetual!!!
Beyond words to describe the Ashram’s grandeur,
The silent ambience is devoutly pure!!!
The spiritual life, at Puducherry, is unfortunately diminishing,
Thanks to modern lifestyle, the cleft between superficial and psychic life is increasing!!!
Nice poetic expression of multifarious aspect of Puducherry ashram area and ongoing challenge to maintain Peace ambience and Psychic environment .as.it has unique distinction of an Ashram nestled in buzz of city life with an ancient Ganesha temple and sea beach nearby ...
ReplyDeleteजैसी दृष्टी वैसी सृष्टि
ReplyDeleteआप की दृष्टि मे पूर्ण योग किधर दीखता है ? जरा बोलिये हम भी देखे |
Delete"The silent ambience is devoutly pure!!!
ReplyDeleteThe spiritual life, at Puducherry, is unfortunately diminishing,
Thanks to modern lifestyle, the cleft between superficial and psychic life is increasing!!!"
This is very true, but for the ambience to pure, even the silence needs to be pregnant with dynamic purity. The modern lifestyle is neither modern nor pure. So why thank it when it so aboriginal?
Dr. Sudevi Basu, your poem is a magnificent portrayal of the contrasting facets of Puducherry, beautifully weaving together the superficial allure of modernity and the profound depth of its spiritual essence. Your ability to capture the essence of this city with such vivid imagery and lyrical expression is truly commendable.
DeleteThe poem gracefully paints a picture of Puducherry as a city of dualities, where the bustling tourist attractions and contemporary delights coexist with the serene spirituality of the Ashram. Your words effortlessly transport the reader to this unique place, where history and modernity blend harmoniously.
The modern lifestyle is neither modern nor pure. So why thank it when it so aboriginal, @ Thakur Prasad - My intention in this poem to write "Thanks to modern lifestyle" is in a sarcastic sense, that means the younger generation is totally oblivious of Sri Surobindo and the Mother and their spiritualism, forget integral yoga - Sudevi Basu
Delete@ Saswati - Thanks a lot Madam for your expressions.
DeleteHi, in response to the idea of the younger generation being oblivious of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother - this is interesting to contemplate:
DeleteApproximately 50 years ago, the Mother said that in approximately 50 years, tens of millions of people around the planet would know of the teaching of Sri Aurobindo, but few would know the name Sri Aurobindo. She went on to say this did not matter at all - what mattered was the supramental influence of the integral yogic teaching.
I think if we look at news and entertainment alone, and judge from our surface minds, it may appear that the Mother was wrong, but I find among millions of people interested in meditation and the inner life, the vast majority have been profoundly influenced by Them.
Look at the first stirrings of the modern interest in meditation. I remember in the 1970s, and at least for 20-30 years after that, the influence of the renunciant path was still strong. Meditation was seen as something apart from life.
When I conducted research on mindfulness, in the late 1990s, there was a bare start with the idea that meditative/contemplative spirituality might have something to offer in the world of therapy, which is the field in which I was conducting research.
This was also a period - around the world, not just in India or the US - when non duality (the modern pop name for Advaita Vedanta) began to grow exponentially. Up until around 2012 or 2015, this too was focused on simply getting rid of the ego, being "awake" with no concern for evolution, for the world, etc.
In perhaps just the last 5-8 years, the scientific community around the world has been - at a rate I never imagined I'd see in my life time (now age 71) abandoning even the pretense that a materialistic view of science makes any science. The Nobel Prize winner in physics in 2022, Anton Zeilinger, actually used the EXACT SAME WORDS as Sri Aurobindo when he said, "Consciousness is the fundamental thing in the universe." I am hearing an astonishing increase in scientists saying, again in line with Sri Aurobindo, that consciousness is fundamental.
I hear more and more people around the world saying that meditation and spirituality only make sense in the context of an evolutionary view -and not the confused, pseudo scientific view of the Theosophists or Anthroposophists or that of Teillhard de Chardin but perfectly in harmony with the Integral Yoga.
Despite what so many people see when they look with a purely outward vision at the multi crises occurring, from dangerous increases in authoritarian leaders, to the climate crisis, various deadly wars, etc, I see the Divine Mother sweeping up the debris of the old consciousness and bringing in the Light of the view.
When She is sweeping, of course some dust will be lifted from under the carpet into the air. Let us trust in Her and see the Truth of Mother's prediction of a world wide recognition of the essential principles of the Integral Yoga.
Thanks Don Sir for your words. It is a new learning experience for me. Thank you for your wonderful views and expressions. Really appreciate it. Regards- Sudevi
DeleteGladly! You know what, you - and everyone else here - can do me a favor. I've been publishing articles in the Integral Yoga journal, "Sraddha," on "Integral Yoga in Everyday Language" (I was thinking of calling it "Integral Yoga for Dummies" - which certainly describes me - but the editor thought better of it).
Deleteif you or anybody here has suggestions for topics, I would love to hear it. I do want to illustrate the basic yogic psychology of Mother and Sri Aurobindo, but I want in particular to show how Their teachings are profoundly relevant for the kinds of "mundane" concerns most people have:
Physical and psychological illness and health
Relationships
Learning
Work
Entertainment
Sports, arts, politics, economics, etc
And one might hope, meaning and purpose in life, and one might perhaps even more remotely hope, awakening, and even possibly, transformation, individual and collective.
I am at donsalmon7@gmail.com. Please, keep this in mind. ANYTHING you can think of that you think people (in or apart from the Integral Yoga community) would most like to hear, I would immensely appreciate feedback.
Thank you all and namaste.
Facts are awful and enlightening and so it is in Pondicherry Mother's and Sri Aurobindo 's presence felt in 2000 nautical miles .The calm ,serene,quiet white town as it was called the portals of Ashram is now a photoshoot area,while thousands thronging from various places to stroll on the Beach side.This is the Change, growth and progress .We Want the presence again and the same attraction of the souls sinking in the psychic...Maa Auro transform the minds and relatively the soul changes whereas simultaneously opening the doors of the psychic.Detour the involvement with the mundane world and Walk in search of Peace Which Still abundant in the Ashram.
ReplyDeleteLovely poem
Thanks a ton for your observations and expressions.
Delete"All is in the Divine, the Divine is in all, all is the Divine, and there is nothing else in the universe." (From Synthesis of Yoga)
DeleteIs there a mundane world apart from the Divine? When we look through the eyes of Infinity, ALL without exception is Her, however much on the surface Her Para Praktriti, her Higher Nature, may not be directly manifesting. And isn't that limited manifestation also Her Will, however distorted?
Thank you Sudevi ji for such beautiful lines. You have clearly pointed out the different faces of happiness in your lines. The poem captures the current essence of Pondicherry and it seems that a lot has evolved since my own visit sometimes around 2000. Love and Light.
ReplyDeleteYes Abhishek ji, a lot has changed and if you walk down the streets along the beach road, the young boys and girls will remind you nothing short of Goa beach, hence I was tempted to compose this poem on my last visit in June 2023, never expected Puducherry to be like this...For me it is a Divine City. Regards- Sudevi
ReplyDeleteAh!beautiful way of looking at the happenings ,events,leaders,war , younger generation, nature of mankind every moment of changes in all facets of life is very well analysed.Dr Sudevi Basu has created and kindled deeper insights of the Mother's prophecy and how the World is under transformation waiting for the Divine energy and the Supramental 🚨🕯️
ReplyDeleteDear Sudevi madam,
ReplyDeleteNo further discussions out of context, let us focus on the fundamental issue "Yoga". "Cleft" is rampant throughout the go of life. Why blog so much on distractions? If, at all, blog something on Yoga itself that would pull us out of the quagmire.
(Don salmon here). I am not sure I understand. Perhaps I am misreading your comment, but it sounds to me - I could be wrong - as if you’re speaking of a “quagmire” that is objectively existent. I’m not sure there could ever be any quagmire anywhere - especially in a world in which the very fabric of existence is woven of Her Divine Consciousness - except in the separative consciousness of the egoic nature. And perhaps I have misread Mother and Sri Aurobindo all these decades, but the primary effort required of each of us is to see and offer to her the myriad ways of our own egoic mental, vital and physical consciousness.
DeleteBeyond that, there is little to write about as She takes over from there to DO the Yoga. So I’m not quite sure what else there is to write about in blog posts except whatever can help us to see more clearly the egoic machinations of our own mind, life and physical thoughts, feelings, emotions, drives, cravings, etc.
That seems, to me, to take up at least 80% of both Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s letters to disciples.