Blessed are those

An electrifying presence (Dr. Karan Singh)

Extract from the book 'Meetings with Remarkable Women'

Dr. Karan Singh

Along with my mother and wife, I visited Pondicherry for the first time in 1956, six years after Sri Aurobindo passed away. We had the privilege of a fairly long meeting with the Mother, who we were later told, specially readjusted Her programme to meet us. At the very first meeting I came under the spell of Her personality. The gravitas of Her persona was undeniable. It was soothing and yet electrifying. Her face lit up in a soft smile but Her eyes were penetrating. I met Her on two other occasions, once along with Nolini Kanta Gupta and once with Udar Pinto. On the last occasion She looked at me for a long time and then said a prolonged 'yes'. Sri Aurobindo himself was a most remarkable figure, and His evolutionary philosophy is still being studied around the world. His birthday is on 15 August and in His final message He said: "August 15 is the birthday of free India. It marks for her the end of an old era, the beginning of a new age. But we can also make it by our life and acts as a free nation an important date in a new age opening for the whole world, for the political, social, cultural and spiritual future of humanity."

As I see it, the Mother acted not only as a spiritual collaborator but also as a bashyakar or interpreter of Sri Aurobindo's writings, explaining and clarifying them to the Ashramites and the world. In fact, Her luminous comments are of tremendous help in understanding the complex and profound philosophy of Sri Aurobindo. This was clearly one of the great spiritual partnerships

Page 107

of all time. The only parallel I can think of is St. Francis and St Clara of Assisi.

Courtesy: Palimpsest Publishing House, New Delhi - 17 Year 2014

(A versatile, eminent and remarkable personality, Dr. Karan Singh has been the Chairman of Auroville Foundation from 1991 to 96 and also presently, since 2004. He is a member of the Rajya Sabha.)

* * *

WHO

In the blue of the sky, in the green of the forest,

Whose is the hand that has painted the glow?

When the winds were asleep in the womb of the ether,

Who was it roused them and bade them to blow?....

In the strength of a man, in the beauty of woman,

In the laugh of a boy, in the blush of a girl;

The hand that sent Jupiter spinning through heaven,

Spends all its cunning to fashion a curl....

We have love for a boy who is dark and resplendent,

A woman is lord of us, naked and fierce.

We have seen Him a-muse on the snow of the mountains,

We have watched Him at work in the heart of the spheres...

All music is only the sound of His laughter,

All beauty the smile of His passionate bliss;

Our lives are His heart-beats, our rapture the bridal

Of Radha and Krishna, our love is their kiss....

In the sweep of the worlds, in the surge of the ages,

Ineffable, mighty, majestic and pure,

Beyond the last pinnacle seized by the thinker

He is throned in His seats that for ever endure....

It is He in the sun who is ageless and deathless,

And into the midnight His shadow is thrown;

When darkness was blind and engulfed within darkness,

He was seated within it immense and alone.

Sri Aurobindo - Collected Poems : pg 40 - 41

Page 108