We pull ourselves
Supreme Court endorses Panchayat Elections. Rescheduled elections. Code in force.
India, 71. 72nd Republic Day. Let us recommit to our constitutional values – Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. Justice. Political, Social, Economic. Let us give our warriors – farmers, soldiers and health workers (include: scientists) – the dignity, the respect they deserve. Let us give the dignity and respect the teachers, builders of NextGen.
Visu is no more. Visweswara Rao Korla, 47 (20 May 1973 – 25 Jan 2021), a fit young gentleman, shocks us with his departure. Viral fever, Typhoid, Lung Infection, and may be CoVID. Survived by his wife, son and daughter. Accounts-ICT-Finance Professional. Girijan Corporation, Kovel, Naandi Foundation, Akshara, APMAS, CARE, Softforce, FANSA, India AAA, Saathi, Rythu Sadhikara Samstha.
25 January. We have been rudely shocked, limping back slowly. May take days and weeks. Visu was a teenager when he joined our lives, and became an integral part for over 28 years. It appears as if a part of us has been taken off. Not fair. I thought one day, he would mourn me and see, I am mourning him now. I am sure, as we take time to get back, RySS may have a huge void that would take a very long time to be filled.
Visu, we persist. We reflect. We pull ourselves together. Soon. We will let you feel proud of us.
In Auroville with Sri Aurobindo (Aurobindo Ghosh) in thoughts. Integral Yoga Founder-Practitioner. Founded Sri Aurobindo Ashram (1926), along with his spiritual collaborator, MIrra Alfassa (The Mother). His books include: The Life Divine, Synthesis of Yoga, Savitri (a legend and a symbol, an epic poem). He argues evolution/manifestation of matter into life, life into mind, mind into super mind. Thus evolution has a purpose, to link with the Sachchidaananda.
Auroville. City of Aurobindo, or the City of Dawn, founded (28 February 1968) by the Mother, along with delegates from 124 nations. An experimental universal township, to realize human unity. 20 square kilometres of barren wasteland, some 5000 acres, mostly in Tamilnadu, and a portion in Puduchcherri. About 10 km from Puduchcherri. Matrimandir (Peace Area) is the heart of Auroville. Inner chamber within Matrimandir is the place to find one’s ‘consciousness’. Four zones radiate from Matrimandir – Residential, Industrial, Cultural, and International, surrounded by Green Belt of farms, forests, gardens, communities. It includes a beach, Repos.
Auroville has been taken over by Government of India in 1980/88 through Auroville Foundation. Currently, Karan Singh chairs the same. About 3000 individuals are residents from about 55 countries. 50%+ of them from India. Another 3000-4000 are volunteers. Auroville works with surrounding villages through Auroville Village Action Trust. Auroville does not use paper and coin currency amongst the residents. Instead, it uses Aurocard. Even visitors are provided with a temporary account/card (Aurocard). Auroville residents contribute to the community monthly, by work, in kind or in money. Needy residents do get ‘maintenanve’ to meet simple basic needs of life. The system/economy is still evolving. Auroville’s commercial units contribute 33% of their profits to the Central Fund. There are donations too. Some 5,000 people are also employed from the neighbourhood villages and outside.
A country within. A promising community. 50 years now. And still evolving. Another 50 years or more.
Can we stay for some 1000 days here in some time from now?
Remembered: Dr Michael Halse, the founding board member of National Dairy Development Board. Operation Flood I & II, Operation Goldenflow, IRMA, Tribhuvandas Foundation et al have the stamp of Michael Halse. Hre also supported coming of a restaurant – Three Musketeers – at Anand. Worked earlier with IIMA founding team. A master with numbers and words. K and H were a team in sync. I happen to bump into him in 1995-96 and interacted with him when he spent time again as a visiting fellow in IRMA.
Bill Gates and Melinda Gates released their 2021 Annual letter. They reminded us that CoVId has costed lives, sickened millions, thrust economy into a bad recession. Children lost school time. Workers are finding odd jobs. Stress and isolation are impacting mental health. People are missing out, skipping important moments of life. But hope is in the horizon – tests, treatments, vaccines – despite the new strains. The concern remained: people with less are faring worse than those with more. Pre-existing inequalities are growing deeper and more intense. Poor – poorer, vulnerable – more vulnerable, marginalized – more marginalized. Further, new poor-vulnerable-marginalized are emerging. Numbers are increasing, manifold. Cost of CoVID is USD 28 Trillion. We cannot afford one more. Let us invest Billions to save Trillions.
Let us remain more ready. Ever ready to fight.
Gratitude is important. Practicing gratitude leads to happiness and increased wellbeing. We should not trust the ungrateful. We need to be grateful for the saving in future suffering. No gratitude takes us away from the joy of living, slows us down and may take us into ‘illness’. Many a time, the problem is that we are stuck, unable to let go, unable to accept, unable to see clearly, unable to forgive. If we can do this, we would have peace, happiness. We would have more energy to focus on things that matter to us.
Can we remain grateful? Can we feel ‘dhanyosmi’? Can we experience ‘aham aanadah’? Can we experience ‘aham kritajnah’ gratitude? Can we be our whole in the present, ‘aham sampratih’? Can we expand into universe ‘aham naaraayanah’? Can we experience others as us, ‘namah stey’? Can we live kindness, ‘aham karunah’? We become graceworthy, by loving.
Let us sing, dance, float in the ocean of gratitude in sync with nature’s ways, tunes, colours. Let us keep floating and flowing. In gratitude. For local useful coexistence, with N. For 7L.
Join us in the world of yoga of let go in coexistence for local usefulness – namaskarayoga for 7L.
G Muralidhar