Dear Readers,
Greetings from SACAR! In this issue we bring you three articles by our faculty members, and a book review by Shruti, an associate of the institute. The first article is by Ananda Reddy and is based on talk he gave at Savitri Bhavan in Auroville. It goes into the deep essence of Savitri, relating it to the essence of life in the world, and to the essence of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in their roles as Avatars! It sounds deep, and it is, but partly because it is in the style of a talk, and partly due to Ananda's style, it is personal and engaging. He brings together many quotes from various sources in Sri Aurobindo's and the Mother's writings to reveal and support his interesting and profound arguments.

The second article is by me, Larry Seidlitz, and is focused on seven psychological qualities or lines of development in the Integral Yoga. Unlike many other paths of yoga, Integral Yoga does not have a set method or set of practices. It is more subtle and psychological, more based on attitudes or movements of the consciousness. These attitudes also are fluid, hard to define, blend into related attitudes or states, and our experience of them is constantly changing with our psychological state. Nevertheless, we can form a conception of them and strive to foster them over time in our daily life, increasing their focus, power, frequency, and intensity.

The third article is by Beloo Mehra and is a reflection on the essence of Indian spirituality. She starts with a quote from Sri Aurobindo, "Spirituality is indeed the master-key of the Indian mind; the sense of the Infinite is native to it." And then she asks, "What does it mean to grapple with the Infinite, and how is it native to the Indian mind?" She follows with a personal reflection on these issues, drawing on Indian art, sculpture, music and poetry to help formulate her answer.

The final book review by Shruti is on Jitendra Sharma's book, Concept of man in Sri Aurobindo's poetry. The book indeed seems to be interesting, as it elucidates Sri Aurobindo's conception of man as expressed in a wide range of shorter and longer poems. It also conveys the philosophical sense of the topic, relating it to the evolution of consciousness and the future of humanity.

Till next time….
Larry