The warm welcome and sincere enthusiasm evinced by the readers of Vignettes of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother (360 True Stories). Now in its second printing, encouraged me to continue this work of collection and compilation. Here are 421 new stories-a result of two years of labour.
The majority of these stories are based on interviews with individuals. For the most part, their personal names have been withheld and even the initials used do not generally correspond to those of the persons concerned.
As these stories have been narrated from memory, which is rarely infallible, and due to the long intervening time lag, the words of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother may be only approximations. But all efforts have been made to retain their original meaning.
Some of these stories have appeared elsewhere and are reprinted here with permission. Extracts from other journals and books have been edited and abridged to fit into the framework of this book. The greatest amount of work went into the Udar stories.
True to his name, Udar was generosity itself. When I sent him my request for his reminiscences, he agreed to record them on tape and, in due time, gave me five audio cassettes full of precious stories. To preserve their originality and personal touch, these stories have been kept in the first person mode of narration.
I spent many hours in the office of "Sri Aurobindo's Action" looking through every back issue of that journal for other Udar reminiscences. Some that I found have been included in this volume. A few of the stories, Udar's and others', were culled from similar research through back issues of "Mother India." My thanks to K. D. Sethna and to Shyam Sundar Jhunjhunwala who have permitted me to print these extracts from their respective journals.
This is a collection of stories remembered and told by the Mother's children, about their experiences with her and Sri Aurobindo. It is a humble attempt to record some incidents of the divine lila- a few drops from the inexhaustible ocean of love that the Mother and Sri Aurobindo were. Their infinite compassion, their incessant self-giving and self-sacrifice are beyond human comprehension. Each step taken by them is etched deeply on the breast of Time. The Truth-Vibration of each word spoken by them continues to reverberate throughout the universe. As the Mother herself said, "Whatever I do, the least gesture, whatever I say or utter has a stupendous effect in the other world. The vibrations that come out of me become realities above... And you will be surprised to see the work I have accomplished for you all. For each one his own path, well-shaped, well-chiselled with all the obstacles, all the impediments removed, all that was blocking the way demolished, so that you may be able to walk freely in the full light of the new consciousness, towards the truth."
Now that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are no longer physically present among us, these stories may help to make them vivid and bring them nearer to the reader.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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Vedas (1365)
Upanishads (663)
Puranas (831)
Ramayana (894)
Mahabharata (328)
Dharmasastras (164)
Goddess (470)
Bhakti (243)
Saints (1253)
Gods (1288)
Shiva (329)
Journal (132)
Fiction (43)
Vedanta (318)
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