Blogs from Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia

When the soul lies down in the grass the world is too full to talk about.” ― Rumi When the soul lies down in the grass the world is too full to talk about.” ― Rumi The bulk of these following pictures were taken by Sephina -" Sephina's aspiration".... read more

An endearing feature of most all homes and places of business in this part of India are Kolam, highly symmetrical geometrical line drawings that are composed most often of curved loops and dots. They are drawn at entry ways, often decorating the streets. Thought to bring prosperity to ones home, they are redrawn with white rice powder and something that makes them sparkle each morning by Tamil women. The rice powder also invites birds and other small creatures to eat it, thus welcoming other beings into one's home and everyday life: a daily tribute to harmonious co-existence. It is a sign of invitation to welcome all into the home, not the least of whom is Lakshmi, the Goddess of prosperity and wealth. It is a matter of pride to be able to draw large complicated patterns ... read more

Last Friday was Ganesh Chaturthi. This is the birthday celebration of one of India's most beloved Gods, Ganesh. Music started playing at midnight the day of, all offices were closed and fireworks rang out later that night in Pondicherry. We were told that for the most part, it is a celebration that is honored in homes and temples and not publicly, though I don't doubt that there was a public festival in Pondicherry. I read that the big festivals traditionally involve installing clay images of Ganesha in temporary shrines, which are worshipped for ten days with a variety of herbal leaves and plants to later be immersed at the end of the festival in a water, (lakes and rivers), along with the miniature Idols. Ganesh seems omnipresent here in the South East. He seems to be ... read more

Time's flown by, and I can't believe it's already the middle of my third week here! I've been having an amazing time and every day holds something new and different, from work tasks to workshops to food to meeting new people and everything in between. Last Wednesday morning I did “tree hole digging” for my first morning SEVA, which involved one person loosening soil in an uphill arc around a metal tube placed on the ground, which is approx. 30cm diameter and 70cm high, using a pointy metal crowbar, whilst the other person digs out the soil from the arc using a “mounti”(?) spade, which is a shovel with a short handle (photo hopefully included) and deposits it around the tube, making a mound around 40cm high. These tubes then get filled with trees and compost, ... read more

Waaaaaa, Le temps file, J'ai passe un deux semaines a la Sadhana Forest, unecommunaute un peu en retrait d'Auroville. La-bas, y'avait pas un acces facile a internet, voila pourquoi j'ai mi tant de temps a re-ecrire dans ce blogue. Quand j'en avais la chance, j'ecrivais ou je repondais personnellement a certains d'entres vous. Voila pour la justification ;) Alors maintenant, parlons de la Sadhana Forest. Sadhana, ca veut dire qqc comme "chmein spirituel" ou "objectif spirituel" C'est cute, non? Bon ben c'est ca qui est ca. Ceux qui ont fonde la Sadhana Forest en ontfait leur Sadhana, c'est-a-dire que leur mission principale a eux, c'est la reforestation de cet endroit qui etait desert il y a seulement 8 ans. Vous tomberiez sur le derriere si je vous montrais les photos, mais j'ai perdu mon appareil recemment. ... read more