Date: 02/24/2019
This talk in honor of Mother’s birthday will present the life and spiritual experience of the Mother as a manifestation of divine-human feminine wisdom and creativity. It will draw on the writings of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo and on George Van Vrekhem, The Mother: The Story of Her Life.
Robert McDermott, PhD, is president emeritus of the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco. Since 2000 he has been a professor in the CIIS program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness. His publications on Sri Aurobindo include The Essential Aurobindo (1973; 1987); Six Pillars: Introductions to the Works of Sri Aurobindo (1974; 2012). With the late Dr. Haridas Chaudhuri, he edited a Sri Aurobindo Centenary volume of the International Philosophical Quarterly (1972). Dr. McDermott wrote and co-directed Avatar: Concept and Example (Open University-BBC, 1976). With Dr. Debashish Banerji, he is currently writing Sri Aurobindo and Modern Thought.
Date: 03/03/2019
Come one and all and bring your friends, partners, and neighbors to a gathering in which favorite poems will be shared. Or you can come and simply listen and enjoy. The number of poems one can read will depend on the number of people attending who want to share their poetry. You may read one or more. The host, Sally Love Saunders, has a passion for poetry and gathering people around to write and read. Today we will simply read and listen. Hope to have you there!
Sally Love Saunders is a widely published Poet, Poetry Therapist, Lecturer, Free-Lance Writer and Workshop Leader. Sally’s work has appeared in the New York Times, Times International, The London Times, The Denver Post, and among over three hundred other anthologies, magazines and newspapers. She has received many prizes for her poetry.
“A Johnny Appleseed Poet,” Sally has traveled all over the country running workshops. It is her absolute conviction that “Everyone is a Poet!” Sally has developed fun techniques to help individuals to get in touch with their own unique creativity.
Date: 03/10/2019
In Being, Evolution & Immortality, Haridas Chaudhuri writes that Sri Aurobindo has given to the world a comprehensive philosophical system, a complete art of integral living, pointing the way to an integration of the material and spiritual values of life. It is a call to the reconstruction of human life and society on the basis of abiding spiritual values, true to the kindred points of time and eternity. Reaffirming original teachings of the Vedas, Upanishads, and the Gita, his commentaries present timeless truth in a form especially appropriate to the present times.
Rita Pease is president of Cultural Integration Fellowship (CIF), which was founded in 1951 by her parents, Haridas and Bina Chaudhuri, to promote the interchange of ideas between East and West. Seeking a dynamic synthesis of the cultural and spiritual values of all people, CIF teaches the complementarity of the world’s great religions and philosophies and celebrates our unity in diversity.
Date: 03/17/2019
During the medieval era, the bold and compelling poetry of the great Indian poet-saints made religion accessible to all irrespective of language, social status, age, or gender. Aks & Lakshmi present the love, peace, and pluralistic vision of bhakti poets such as Adi Shankara, Mirabai, and Vallabhacharya. Bhajans and stotras (devotional song and hymn) on major Hindu deities interconnect with storytelling and visual media in a celebration of ecstatic devotion. With live singing, keyboard, electronic instruments and English narration, Aks & Lakshmi maintain the poetic authenticity of these works in Sanskrit, Hindi and Tamil, while reinventing them with contemporary musical arrangements in World, Pop and Folk styles. In 2013, their music and media company Eclipse Nirvana released “The Bhakti Movement” album, distributed worldwide by Sony Music. Aks & Lakshmi are a composer-vocalist duo who specialize in Electronic Bhakti Music. They are pioneers in blending Raga influences with electronic and pop genres to create powerful spiritual experiences. Aks is a composer, producer and vocalist who composes for albums, film & TV, and video games. Trained by Oscar winner AR Rahman, Aks is best known for creating multi-layered electronic orchestrations and lyrical melodies. Lakshmi is a vocalist-scholar who brings singing, scholarship, and storytelling onto one platform. With an M.A. in Religious Studies from Stanford University, she performs and writes on the great Indian poet-saints. As guest artists at Princeton, Stanford, GTU, and the 2018 Parliament of World Religions (Toronto), the content of their sacred music holds strong educational value. Based in Los Angeles, CA, Aks & Lakshmi tour in North America and beyond. Audiences describe their music as “healing,” “meditative” and “transforming.”You can hear their music on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/EclipseNirvana
