04 Apr 1910

ANNIVERSARY OF SRI AUROBINDO'S ARRIVAL AT PONDICHERRY Sri Aurobindo came to Pondicherry on April 4, 1910, to pursue a spiritual goal – the goal of supramental transformation – never before successfully attempted by anyone. While engaged in the freedom struggle in Bengal, Sri Aurobindo received an ‘adesh’ (a Divine Command) to go to Pondicherry. In one of his letters to a disciple he wrote: “Pondicherry is my place of retreat, my cave of tapasya, not of the ascetic kind, but of a brand of my own invention.” This day of his arrival at Pondicherry is a very significant event that led to a revolution in the destiny of Man, bringing in the possibility of a New World, a New Humanity whose life will be based on a higher consciousness. From the moment of his arrival at Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo was constantly engaged in the tremendous work of laying the foundations of this new world. THERE WILL BE A COLLECTIVE MEDITATION TODAY AT 7:45 PM IN THE ASHRAM PLAYGROUND. SRI AUROBINDO said: “We do not want to exclude any of the world’s activities. Politics, trade, social organisation, poetry, art, literature – all will remain. But all will be given a new life, a new form...” And then, his call for working collectively to achieve this goal: “If we are spread out everywhere as individuals, something no doubt will be done; if we are spread out everywhere in the form of a Sangha*, a hundred times more will be accomplished.” [*Sangha: a collective body, divine fellowship]