Mantras
I'm still at a loss for words. The past few days have been marked by thoughts of the Vedic scriptures. A companion from another life took me to Nishtha Muller, an Aurovilian who has dedicated his life to the Vedic scriptures. For almost 2 hours, in his very humble dwelling in the forest, which he planted himself, he told us about Sanskrit, its roots, grammar, pronunciation, the deep spiritual power of mantras, cultural history, and historical dimensions. His explanations are what most profoundly affected me...
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Music
I didn't take much with me to India, just a backpack full, mostly clothes, books, and electronics. However, I did pack good headphones and recently bought an external Hi-Fi sound card from Tempotec for my USB-C port. It wasn't cheap, but it's excellent. I was really happy when it arrived today, and of course, I tried it out immediately. What a mixed experience. The music immediately brought back memories; I remembered listening to it in...
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Immanence
Yesterday, I saw two millipedes mating. It was pretty much the most fascinating thing I've seen in a very long time. The creatures intertwined, rubbed, and courted each other. There was rhythm, devotion, entanglement. The two met by chance and after a few minutes, went their separate ways. An encounter. They were two life forms that united to create more life. A life. Today, I then read Deleuze's last...
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Sleep research
Recently, I listened to a podcast about dreams and was once again very surprised. The head of the sleep lab in Mannheim says that anyone can train themselves to remember dreams. I can do that, so that's true. But what really surprises me is the reduction of dreams to the subconscious. Dreams, he says, merely use stronger images to alert us to something we are neglecting in our waking consciousness. A shame and sad, and at the same time telling, how pathetic this...
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Healing
Curry! Every morning there are wonderfully mild Indian dishes. They are light and complex, with what seems like a thousand and one spices. Lunch is Solarkitchen, the community canteen, simple, good vegetarian food. The principle is healthy food for everyone, affordable for all. In the evening, those wonderful dishes again. What's not available: alcohol, meat, or fish, sugar. Eggs are a luxury. I used to eat a lot of chocolate in Germany, but now it's far too sweet for me. I treat myself to a complex vitamin...
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Read
For three weeks now, I've been reading in India: Deleuze, the Upanishads, Sri Aurobindo. In between, I meditate sometimes. The rest is still a remnant of everyday life from the New World. Reading news, consuming entertainment media, organizing things that don't actually matter here but require continuity so they don't break apart in the Old World, and the New World. So, reading... It seems to me that I've been preparing myself for decades to read here. My thinking oscillates between Deleuze and the Upanishads. This wisdom in...
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OM Choir
Today I was in a choir lesson. What happened there was a very intense shared experience. I'll try to describe it as objectively as possible. We (about 60 participants) started with breathing exercises, ‚warmed up‘ our vocal cords, sang four-part chords, and scaled the pitch. The choirmaster pointed out that we weren't here by chance. He said we were in Auroville because something had drawn us here. I think most people in the room understood what he meant, for others perhaps...
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Temple building
I recently met a young Indian man here. He's from Delhi, and for him, South India is also a foreign world, though not as foreign as it is to me. He doesn't speak Tamil, and he's also a bit more detached or enlightened in his spirituality, as one might say. I ran into him again on the street, and we went to the Thamarai afternoon school on the outskirts of Auroville, which offers an afternoon program in a village that holds many social tensions within it...
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Protected: Meditationsnotitzen – 10.10.22 Matrimandir
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Meditation notes - 6.10.22 Matrimandir
Today, I finally went to the Matrimandir for the first time. Six years ago, I had a guided tour, which is a prerequisite for going alone later. It also makes sense to have a general idea of what kind of place it is, how to behave there, and what would disturb others. During my Monday meditations in Zen-Kreis Bremen, I was often drawn here. It was a place of peace and strength. Sometimes it seemed as if it wanted to tell me something. Well, it has...
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Context
Schopenhauer, a great admirer of the Upanishads, wrote a small book „On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason“ (1847). He identifies four forms of causality, e.g., small cause – large effect, or large cause – small effect, etc. This fascinated me because it offers a broader understanding than the purely scientific model, which ultimately always follows the law of conservation of energy. For example, when someone declares a war, that is a relatively simple act (small cause) and...
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Gauges
Today I visited a place for village children with special needs (Deepam). Someone from the guesthouse here had invited me to accompany them. It was a kind of ceremony as part of Navarathri in honor of the goddess Saraswathi – she represents education, prosperity, and success. In India today, the items needed for work were cleaned and consecrated as a form of thanks. Gifts were brought to them and songs were sung. At the therapy center, these included figurines, books…
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